


5 reasons to stay

by Silverine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ballroom Dancing, Childbirth shenanigans, Comfort/Angst, Dancing Lessons, Friends to Lovers, Involuntary inhalation of alien psychotropics, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), No immediate mutual pining we die like men, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post Season 6, Rescue Missions, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-05-30 04:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 47,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15088652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverine/pseuds/Silverine
Summary: “I— I don’t think I can do this anymore, Keith.”His feverish eyes refuse meet his gaze. They go down again, trembling fingers grabbing the sheets for dear life.“Please… take me home?”After their scarring battle against Lotor, Lance gets sick and he confesses to Keith he just wants to go home. But now that Keith has found his own peace, he will try to convince Lance during the long road back to not quit, by showing him a few reasons to stay around. Five curious, bizarre reasons, to be exact.Set after season 6.





	1. "Please, take me home"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You: Oh great, another post season 6 langst fic. Much original, very klance, wow.  
> Me: Ok, but consider... 1, I have feelings? :c. And 2, this is just me putting together one fic composed by a prologue and five WIP one shots with different tematics that I probably wouldn't finish otherwise. So I'm like forming my own written Voltron... or something...
> 
> ... Uh ok, this first chapter is an angsty introduction, but the rest of the series is gonna be much more lighthearted and funny, I promise. Enjoy!

Watching the universe expanding before him from Black’s cockpit, mentally recapitulating their plans and trying to keep his head cool, Keith repeats their schedule in a constant mental buzz. _Get out of Daibazaal system? Check. Round sector 9, to avoid Galra encounters? On it. Reach first checkpoint, Captain Olia’s base on Ireti? Next._ Once there, they would trace a route to Olkarion and then, ask the Olkari for help to reach Earth, their final destination. Keith inhales slowly. Yeah, that’s a good enough plan, after the chaos.

They have quite the road ahead. Barely two days have passed since their dramatic fight against Lotor and the loss of the Castle, and they are already dead tired. The shock and emotions are still raw, and Pidge’s calculations had horrified them initially: even at full speed on their Lions and not counting any stop nor distraction, without wormholes it would take them the amazing quantity of _fourty-two_ years to reach their solar system. And that just… isn’t something they can afford.

The initial panic gave way to a discussion, and the discussion lead them to a solid plan, or that’s what they chose to believe. Now, the team is trying to stay focused and optimistic. Well, at least half of it.

“Hey guys, how about we count something? Like red planets… or moons?” proposes Hunk in a cynical tone, breaking the prolonged silence. They haven’t stopped in six hours by now, and conversation topics seem to have run dry.

“How about we just, like, meditate in absolute silent?” asks Pidge in return, sounding exhausted. Hunk lets out a prolonged whistle.

“Cranky, aren’t we?”

“You bet,” answers the green paladin, making grumbling sounds as she stretches. “What about you? You get cranky more often than me. Especially when you’re hungry.”

“First, that’s slander. And second, I’m trying to stay positive here? At least we haven’t encountered any trouble, so it’s almost like a road trip… in fact, why don’t we sing something?”

A common whine is heard on the line while Hunk defends himself exclaiming “C’mon guys, this is so boring!”, and Keith finds himself tempted to laugh, but he holds it and peeks behind him. Krolia is dozing off in the corner with her head resting on Cosmo, who is also deep asleep. Knowing that no one is watching him, he smiles freely at this already usual, but still heartwarming sight. He turns his head back, paying attention to the heated bickering coming through the comm again.

After two years away from people, Keith thought he would be overwhelmed by his teammates. Even before leaving the Castle, he already had struggled with their noise and enthusiasm, deep down feeling always out of place and inadequate. It had hindered his first experience as a leader, and his relationships with every member of the crew to a certain point. It didn’t mean he didn’t like them. In fact, his first months with the Blades he had missed them so much that some nights it almost hurt physically, melancholy making him writhe in his cold, temporal bed. His first taste of real domesticity in years had been aboard the alien Castle, after all, and leaving that behind had proved to be harder than expected.

But after meeting his mother and sharing so much time alone with her, bonding in the most strange and unexpected way, he felt different. During those two years or so, reliving moments from his past and watching some snippets of the future at random, the line between reality and remembrances had somehow become thinner, and his longing had transformed into a quiet, peaceful wait. After analyzing what he had seen, he understood he was going to see his friends again sooner or later, and that helped calm his anxiety, something he never had achieved before in his life.

All he had known until that point had been permanent uncertainty and loneliness, but the Quantum Abyss had managed to strip him from both, by giving him the right company and a few casual images that showed many promised reunions. He had a lot of time to think about how much he valued everything he had, and now that he was back, he had discovered a glorious fact: he wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Satisfied, surrounded by every single creature important in his life, for the first time he feels he is where he is meant to be, even if they are currently adrift. That realization is as surprising as it is reassuring, he thinks, smiling again at the voices on his comm.

“And what kind of songs would that be? You have picked my interest,” declares Coran from Blue’s cockpit.

“Don’t even ask, Coran, don’t give any ideas to Hunk and Lance or you’ll regret it in a few hours,” grunts Pidge.

“Geez, you know what? We’ll show you. You wanna start, pal?” asks Hunk, but is only met by silence. After a few awkward seconds, Hunk tries again.

“Uh, Lance? Hello?”

“Oh. Uhm, sorry, what?” asks Lance, as if he wasn’t paying any attention, and Keith frowns. There it is again, that strange atmosphere he had been feeling the last hours.

Keith noticed how Allura is quieter than usual. He can guess why. But what he never expected was for Lance, the most vocal of them all, to be so quiet and absentminded too. It feels… off.

Even though he isn’t sure yet where they are standing, Keith decides he can try asking anyway. Watching Red flying to his right through his windshield, he asks on the comm:

“Hey Lance, are you okay?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, why?” replies the boy. He sounds anxious.

“We aren’t accustomed to enjoy more than two minutes without your sweet voice all over the place,” jokes Pidge, and the rest of the team laughs. But Keith frowns even further, noticing the prolonged and unnatural silence of the red paladin instead of his habitual, snarky retorts. He insists.

“Lance, if you aren’t feeling well just say so and we’ll make a stop.”

“Geez, a stop for what? Get some space McDonalds? I’m fine, Keith,” snaps back Lance.

Abrupt silence. Awkwardly, Lance clears his throat.

“Uh, sorry. I mean, really, I’m okay.”

“Alright then,” mumbles Keith, trying to focus on their course and ignore his irritation. He had forgotten how easily could Lance piss him off when he really tried. Maybe Pidge wasn’t the only cranky one, but if that was the case, he wasn’t going to deal with that. He turns off his voice channel for a while, to let out a big yawn and rub his eyes, tired.

“That doesn’t sound too good,” says a voice behind, and Keith turns to see Krolia now sitting, her arm casually resting on one of her knees. The Lions were amazing ships, but they only considered one pilot, so the guests were having it even harder than the paladins.

“Yeah, guess something’s up with Lance, but I’m not sure if I should ask,” admits Keith, making his neck crack. He was still sore all over.

“It could be because of Shiro. We saw how affected he was back there,” suggests his mother, looking at the pod that is secured in the other corner of the cockpit.

They had decided that, given the fragile state of their former leader, they would put him back on the only healing pod they had taken from the Castle. The pods used too much energy, they were a luxury under these circumstances. They hooked it to Black, who seemed to still have a big pool of quintessence even after hyperjumping to save them. Keith’s respect for the loyal Lion couldn’t be greater by this point.

Shiro would be sleeping, oblivious to the long road, at least until they reached Captain Olia’s base, where Matt Holt and his rebel crew were expecting them. Explaining what had happened to the eldest Holt and his people to request their aid had been the first hard thing to do after the chaos. Keith could still remember his pale face, and his frozen expression summarized very well the horror of the entire situation.

And now that Keith thinks about it, during all that process, Lance had been dead silent, just like now. Maybe Krolia was right, after all.

“I somehow expected him to be a lot louder, given what you’ve told me,” she adds, scratching Cosmo, who snuggles by her side, content and sleepy.

“He is. Well… at least he was,” says Keith, watching Red again.

It isn’t that he misses listening to him talk nonstop and taunt him like before, but the difference is too notorious. Lance had always been loud, nonchalant, attention needy and overall annoying, but on the other hand, he was also a supportive friend, loved by everyone and a reliable teammate. If not always to him, at least to the rest. Could that have changed? The dynamics of the team seemed to have shifted, somehow.

As if guessing his thoughts, Lance speaks then.

“Hey Pidge, do you have the coordinates for auto-piloting already?”

“Almost,” she answers. After a brief pause, she adds, “are you sure you’re feeling ok? You sound weird.”

“Yeah. Just—just tired.”

“Hmm… Oh, right on time. Okay guys, there we go. I’ll send the route, took a while to find a clean path…”

The rest cheers and even Allura mutters a “thank you”. Keith receives the data and notices they still have at least eight hours ahead of flying at full speed to get to their destiny. Sighing, he turns on his voice channel again.

“Alright guys, at least two of us must stay awake to watch if there’s any surprise, the rest can sleep. I can take the first watch…”

“No, you don’t,” interrupts Pidge, “you deserve a nap, Keith. I can take the first one, sleeping is for the weak anyway. Who else?”

“I can, but only if you’re willing to sing with me, though,” jokes Hunk, and Pidge grunts.

“Right… anyone but Hunk?”

“Rude.”

“We can. Coran and Romelle rested for a while, we can accompany you,” says Allura, and Keith can hear the Alteans approve. She must be tired and still sounds depressed, but as always, her tone is firm. Keith doesn’t even consider defying her.

“Ok, then. We’ll rest for three hours or so, and then we can rotate. If anything happens—”

“Yeah, yeah, relax. Just sleep already, okay?” interrupts him Pidge again, and he can hear snorts in the comm.

Instead of feeling offended, Keith can’t help smirking. It somehow made it easier to be treated like an equal by the snarkiest and youngest member of the crew.  

“Fine, I leave it in your very capable hands then,” he teases.

“You got it,” answers Pidge, and he can almost see her wink.

As soon as he stretches in his seat and as if he can guess that his master is about to take a much needed nap, Cosmo wakes up, stretches too and teleports right over Keith’s lap, making him huff under his weight. Krolia chuckles behind them.

“Traitor, replacing me like that,” she jokes.

“He knows who’s his favorite,” says Keith, petting his silky, ethereal fur. The wolf is heavier than he looks and doesn’t seem to be aware of that fact, but Keith is already accustomed to have numb legs because of him. It was worth it, anyway.

“We are not having this argument again,” says Krolia in a flat tone, but Keith has already learned to distinguish her curious humor. That was her being playful.  

“Fine. I’m sleeping. Are you sure you don’t wanna sit here for a while?” asks Keith, knowing she has been in the same spot for hours, but Krolia gives him a smug smile.

“I’d rather not. What would I do if I sit there and the Lion chooses me?”

“Bet I can think of a few things you’d do,” mutters Keith, trying to find a comfortable position with Cosmo over him. While Krolia chuckles again, his beaten body is already enjoying that moment of respite, but his mind is still hooked on his last thoughts.

He didn’t miss the fact that Lance hadn’t said a word during the turns discussion. With one last look at Red, he wonders if he is really doing well. Whatever it is, however, couldn’t be that serious. The only future vision he had of Lance was irrefutable proof, because it hadn’t happened yet, and it probably wouldn’t happen for a while.

Convinced that it shouldn’t be a big deal, he closes his eyes, at last.

 

* * *

 

It’s in the change of turns when the team starts suspecting that something could be really wrong with Lance. Krolia suddenly shakes Keith’s shoulder to wake him up.

“Keith, they are calling you.”

Startled, he opens his eyes and immediately turns on his voice channel, checking the view. Everything looked the same.

“What is it, guys?”

“Sorry Keith, but we’ve been trying to communicate with Lance for a while and he still doesn’t answer. This is starting to smell fishy,” explains Hunk.

“Maybe he is just very tired?” suggests Romelle’s sweet voice.

“No, he wouldn’t ignore a direct call like that for so long,” says Allura, worried.

Keith tries too, and there is no answer. The problem is, Red seems to be set on course, so how could they ask the Lion to stop by himself…?

But then a crack is heard on the line, and Lance’s voice reaches them, weak.

“Guys…?”

“Lance, what’s going on?” asks Keith.

“Sorry. I don’t feel too good. I think— I think I’m sick.”

Groans come from the paladins’ mouths.

“Why didn’t you say so?!” asks Pidge, pissed.

“We have to find a place to stop…” claims Hunk, but Lance’s voice sounds louder now.

“NO. It’s just a few more hours…”

“Lance, we can’t let you alone there. You can’t fly the Lion like that,” says Keith, frowning and clenching Black’s levers, looking around for a decent place to land.

“Why? If it’s contagious it’s better this way. I already set the course, no need to stop. Just— sorry guys, just let me sleep it off, okay?” he says, and then cuts all communication.

Everyone is astonished, but have no other option than keep on route. They have around four hours until they reach Ireti, their destination, and every member of the team is alert during that time. Keith wonders what worries them most, the fact that Lance is sick, or the fact that, for some reason, he stayed uncharacteristically quiet about it.

 

* * *

 

The landing is rough. Without his pilot guiding him properly, Red does his best to land with the other Lions. As soon as they touchdown, the team heads to Red’s hatch, which opens to let them through. Keith had forgotten at that point that there was a real living cow inside, but he forgets Kaltenecker immediately when he reaches the pilot seat. In it, Lance is sprawling, without his helmet, hugging his body and gritting his teeth as if he is in intense pain, sweat dripping from his temples and forehead. His eyes are shut tight and even his breathing is uneven. He looks so bad they all gasp at the sight, horrified.

“Lance!”

Allura is the first one to kneel by his side. Keith surrounds the seat to ask Coran go get something to transport him inside the facility. Krolia joins him, both heading to the base swiftly.

“What happened to him? He wasn’t like this on our last stop and we’ve been inside the Lions this whole time…” Hunk doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands in his nervous state.

“This— This is no normal fever,” mutters Allura, putting a trembling hand on his cheek. He is burning, and the Princess closes her eyes, checking him with her Altean abilities. She flinches.

“Oh no… this feels like overexposure to quintessence. His body is rejecting it and trying to release the excess…”

“But, how?” Keith is confused, but even though Pidge and Hunk cross questioningly glances too, they suddenly look as if they understood something. Just as Keith feels he could be missing something, Pidge steps closer and mutters:

“We should put him in the healing pod. Maybe we can take Shiro out…”

“…No.”

The word comes from Lance’s lips. He is making an effort to open his eyes, his eyelids heavy and swollen.

“Don’t,” he insists.

“Lance, can you hear us? What do you feel?” asks Allura, still touching his face. He closes his eyes again.

“Dunno, just terrible. Just… get away, I wanna puke,” he declares, and everyone except for Keith steps back. Lance grips his seat and pushes his body to the side, but he doesn’t barf, just huffs. The sight is so pitiful that Keith feels his stomach twisting. Unable to keep looking, he heads out and finds Krolia and Coran coming back with a few rebels and some sort of stretcher. Behind them, Matt Holt is walking directly to him.

“Keith,” says the rebel, pale, “What’s going on?”

“Lance is sick, we don’t know what’s wrong with him,” explains Keith, feeling his stomach tense at his own words.

“And what about Shiro? Where is he?” asks Matt, nervous.

Right. Shiro. The pod was still inside Black, and he had been distracted by Lance’s mysterious sickness.

“Inside Black. Let’s take him out,” says Keith, and Matt nods.

As they take the pod out of the Lion, Keith’s eyes follow the rest of the crew. From inside Black he sees how they are taking Lance out of Red, and while they walk towards the base he watches from the distance how they turn on a corner and disappear. He lets out a sigh.

“He’ll be fine.”

Keith turns his head to Matt. The rebel has bags under his eyes and looks pale, but he is smiling warmly.

“Both of them. They’ll be fine. We are gonna take good care of them,” he adds, looking down at Shiro. The smile seems to waver a bit, but he holds it in place, as Keith silently nods. They reach the same corner the crew went before, but enter another door.

 

* * *

 

Ireti is an inhabited, dry planet with a clean atmosphere, short day and night cycles and excellent potential to capture and transmit sound waves. The rebels had chosen it to set one of their main bases, where their experts worked to maintain the entire Coalition connected. The base itself is a chaotic structure surrounded by antennas and made of bronze colored panels, round windows and five levels, two of them underground. Outside a room intended for quarantined patients on the first floor, the team is assembled to hear Allura’s explanation.

“I can only imagine that our last fight caused this. His body could not hold the excess of quintessence to which we were exposed and I think he could be feeling bad since then. For some reason, he didn’t tell us,” she says, gloomy.

“But is he going to recover, or… y-you know…” Hunk seems afraid to ask.

“Yes, he will. I did what I could to remove as much as I can, but his body absorbed a lot and needs to process and reject it for me to take it out. I will treat him again in a few hours, but I’m afraid he will keep feeling terrible for a while,” mutters Allura.

The team sighs.

“How did this happen? None of us is sick,” says Keith, frowning.

They are suddenly quiet and now Keith is sure he isn’t imagining things: they know something he doesn’t. Crossing his arms, he stands in all his new height.

“Alright. What’s going on here?”

Allura lowers her gaze while she speaks to the rest of the people.

“May I have a moment alone with Keith?”

“Sure thing, Princess. Let’s go, we have plenty to do!” exclaims Coran, leading everyone, including Krolia, down the long hall.

As soon as they leave, Allura stops fidgeting and looks at Keith, trying to set a friendly mood.

“A lot has happened since you left—”

“I can tell,” he interrupts, not intending to be disrespectful, but too uneasy to chatter. Allura catches the message, sighing.

“I’m sorry. I think I know why Lance is the only one affected by the quintessence. It has to do with something that happened a few weeks ago.”

She bites her thumb, crossing her other arm in a defensive posture. She looks guilty.

“We received a distress call that time, from a Galra commander who intended to pledge his loyalty to…” the Princess pauses, sighing again. “Lotor. His people were under attack by one of Sendak’s fleets, and requested our help. Their radiation shields were broken, and we helped repair them… but then, we had a malfunction. I was right in the line of fire, and Lance… he…”

“He…?” presses Keith.

“He… saved me, but was hit instead. And he wouldn’t answer…” Allura touches her forehead, stressed and pale. The memory seems to haunt her. “I went to check on him, and he was... I-I had to resort to the knowledge I obtained in Oriande… much like I did with Shiro, last time.”

“Wait.” Keith feels cold. Shiro was technically dead, his soul detached from his body. “What do you mean ‘like with Shiro’? He was... dead…”

Allura’s eyes are confirming his suspicions, but that makes no sense at all.

“Are you seriously implying that Lance _died_?” Keith needs an answer. Allura shakes her head.

“He didn’t die, I think…”

“You _think_?” asks Keith, baffled.

“I mean, he did not… but he… If I hadn’t… I-if I…”

The paladin passes a hand through his hair, unable to believe what he is hearing.

“And why am I just being informed of this? How come no one told me about it when I asked how’ve you all been? Shouldn’t this be the kind of news you tell first?” Keith still doesn’t know what shocks him most, if the fact that the same traumatic experience they lived with Shiro had already happened before, or the horrifying realization of how close he had been to come back to a broken team, with Lance gone. As in, _dead_ gone.

“It just happened really fast. He recovered very quickly too, and we were— there was a lot to do…”

“A lot to do. Yeah, I kinda noticed that,” says Keith without thinking, and an ugly red tint covers Allura’s cheeks. He knows that’s a low blow, but the fact that something so dangerous had happened during their alliance with Lotor is unbearable. He didn’t know the circumstances, true, but he still had issues with Allura’s poor decisions and her excessive trust. Not that he had ever intended to tell her, though… until now.

However, the Princess is adopting an aggressive stance now.

“We may have overlooked Lance’s situation, that much is true. But he was doing fine until now, and besides… You weren’t here either. No one could reach you. That is why you are just being informed.”

Okay, he should have expected a jab back, but he still frowns at her dry tone. He is purposely being treated like an outsider, but it doesn’t matter. He’s not taking the bait this time.

“I’m not picking a fight with you, Allura. I just don’t understand why no one even spoke of this, that’s all,” he explains, sour.

“I… I’m sorry. I don’t know either,” confesses Allura, still red. “But as I said, he was fine. This happened weeks ago. My suspicions are that his body could still be processing my intervention and in our last fight, our contact with pure quintessence while following Lotor may have triggered a bad side effect. That’s… all I can think of,” she concludes.

They stay quiet for a while, until Keith pinches the bridge of his nose, thinking of another possible problem.

“It’d be good if you check on Shiro too, then. It could be bad for his body too, with his… you know.” Keith still couldn’t say out loud the word ‘clone’. Still too much.

“You are right,” agrees Allura, “I will do that right away.”

Keith nods, looking at the closed door behind them one last time. Lance needed some rest, nothing to do about it. They start walking together, but Allura stops after a few steps.

“Keith. One more thing.”

He turns to her. Her face is still a bit flushed, but her eyes are fixed on his now, like every time she has something important to declare.

“I know you must think poorly of me. Honestly, I also do right now. I let all of you down…”

“I don’t—” tries to say Keith, but she raises a hand.

“But you must believe me when I say that I care about all of you above anything else. I will never lose sight of it again...” She bites her lower lip as she inhales, trying to calm herself down before adding: “I owe Lance my life. If I knew about this, I would have done something earlier. I would never let him suffer out of—”

“Of course I know that!” interrupts Keith, uncomfortable. This awkward moment is like going back to the old days, full of misunderstandings. However, he can see a difference. The broken person making excuses, riddled by regrets, is not him this time.

Allura’s eyes are watery, and he feels compelled to say something, anything, even if he isn’t really gifted with words. Shiro was the talented one on that field. Or even Lance. But he puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and tries his best.

“Hey, it’s alright, I understand. I was just surprised. I never expected this to happen, that’s all. I’m not blaming you.”

Allura nods, holding back her tears.

“I was such a fool, Keith, I will never forgive myself. And now Lance is suffering because of me… I just can’t—”

“It’s okay, Allura. He’ll be fine soon enough.” Then he remembers the way Lance spoke of Allura’s relationship with Lotor, how hurt he looked. If his evident interest in the princess hadn’t changed, then Keith knew what would happen if he ever heard Allura say these things. Unconsciously, he vocalizes his thoughts with no filter.

“Lance would probably hate to know you’re feeling like this because of him. Don’t make it even worse.”

Damn. That wasn’t very tactful, but at least it was his sincere opinion. The Princess blinks quickly, and Keith braces himself for a new (deserved) round, but then a miracle occurs: she smiles.

“Yes… it’s true. He already told me something similar, in fact. Well, not _that_ similar,” she chuckles, and Keith blushes a bit. Allura wipes her tears.

“You two are right. There is no time for pitying myself. I’m not helping anyone like this.” Then she pats the hand he has in her shoulder. “Thank you, Keith. It is good to have you back with us.”

Keith tries to smile back too, and they head to the medbay together, where Shiro is being attended. They needed this conversation, probably, but the news about Lance have him too shocked and worried to be truly glad about it. Everything feels weird and disturbing, and he doesn’t like it at all.

 

* * *

 

“So, this is the part where you roast us for not telling you about Lance, right?” asks Pidge, and Keith raises his eyebrows at her.

Pidge, Hunk, Matt and Keith are in the medbay, a huge and chaotic square room, full of tools and machines. They are watching Shiro sleep, still inside the pod. After Allura confirmed he wasn’t showing anomalies, they had decided to release him the next day just in case, and since it’s already night, they are about to leave to their new temporal quarters. But before, they are going to talk too, apparently.

“Should I?” asks Keith, wondering the answer himself. Hunk sighs.

“Maybe. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t care, but he just—”

“Recovered quickly and looked fine for weeks. I know,” says Keith, crossing his arms and watching the peaceful way in which Shiro sleeps. His face doesn’t show any signs of pain, and that’s a relief. However, images of Lance’s pained face aboard Red cross his mind insistently now.

“Well, from what I understand, there was no way to predict this would happen, right?” says Matt.

“Yeah. But that’s not the thing,” mutters Pidge, arranging her glasses. “The problem is he didn’t tell us he was feeling bad on time. Maybe we could have done something.”

The four of them hum, wondering. Hunk sighs again, but this time he sounds more serious.

“You know, maybe we really should be paying a bit more of attention to Lance. I mean, he was having it bad already… with Lotor and all that… we kinda mocked him a bit…”

“A lot, you mean. Yeah,” admits Pidge. “Maybe that’s why he has been training so much lately, too. We thought it was because he was obsessed with his new toy.”

“New toy?” asks Keith.

“The red bayard can transform into a real Altean broadsword… pretty dope, you’ll love it,” says Hunk, winking.

“He really wanted to show it to you,” snickers Pidge, and Keith keeps the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards.

“But he was so obsessed with it that we called it ‘his toy sword’ sometimes, just to piss him off,” explains Hunk, and then he makes a guilty face. “Okay, I’m kinda seeing a pattern here…”

“You can be real jerks when you want, guys,” says Matt, “I would have punched you on the face already.”

“No you wouldn’t, softie,” answers Pidge, and Matt pouts. But then she lowers her eyes. “Well, Lance wouldn’t either, apparently.”

 _Maybe he should have_ , thinks Keith. He knows they always had this kind of relationship and Lance was no better, always on everyone’s backs with his jokes and sarcastic remarks, but he was slowly starting to get the full picture. Hunk and Pidge had another level of intellectual communication, one that Lance and Keith, mere pilots, couldn’t really follow. And Lance was their friend, but also particularly superficial. That couldn’t be a good combination. If they ganged against him, he stood no chance all this time by himself. Maybe that had worn him out.

While the Holt siblings discuss Pidge’s evil nature, Keith’s comm suddenly beeps.

“Yeah?” he says.

“Hey… leader?”

It’s Lance. Keith blinks, surprised.

“Lance? What is it?” The guys look at him, curious.

“I’ve got a problem here,” his voice sounds strained, as if he is being crushed. “Big, has four legs and refuses to get down of me. Can you help me, like, right now?”

“What? Cosmo is with you?” asks Keith, astonished.

“You mean ON ME. Help!” moans Lance.

“I’m going,” says Keith, making a gesture to the guys and leaving the medbay, “just hold on a bit.”

“Sure, take your time, I don’t min— ew dude, stop it!” cries Lance, and that sounds like he is being assaulted by a disrespectful muzzle.

Trying not to laugh, Keith heads immediately to the quarantine room where they had put the sick paladin. He knew that a teleporting wolf could cause some problems in society, but given his untrusting nature, he didn’t expect Cosmo to go and enter other people’s rooms like that, much less an infirmary.

However, as soon as he opens the door, the comical image he finds confirms that his wolf may not be as shy as he thought. Lance whines with one foot outside the bed, disheveled and with his head turned to one side, tolerating the insistent licks of Cosmo, who is sprawled over his whole body, moving his ethereal tail lazily, with zero respect for the sick man. Keith exhales, amused. That was weirdly… _cute_? In its own way.

“Ah, finally!” whimpers the victim, but as soon as Cosmo sees his master on the door frame, he steps on poor Lance making him grunt and teleports right over Keith. He is so used to it, he steps back and catches his front paws on pure instinct.

“You still think you’re a pup, don’t you? You're huge, pal, stop stomping on people. Get down,” he scolds the wolf, letting him down and entering the room to check on Lance. To his surprise, irritated and sick as he is, his pained face is showing the shadow of a soft smile anyway.

“You know, I never imagined you were a dog person,” he comments, grunting while trying to rearrange his body on the bed.

“Wolf person,” corrects Keith, getting closer. Lance rolls his eyes.

“Whatever you say, leader,” he concedes. Snarky and all, in closer inspection he isn’t looking well. Keith notices the slow drag of his legs while he tries to accommodate himself on the mattress, the slight tremor of his hands, his droopy eyes and how unnaturally pale is his face under the sickly blush, far from his normal dark tone. He is currently the very definition of “ill”.

Huffing a bit, Lance reaches for his pillows trying to put them in a comfortable position, but his hands are too stiff. Keith gets closer to help.

“H-hey, no need,” stutters the red paladin, flustered.

“It’s nothing,” says Keith, feeling his stomach tense. The room is cool but a strange heat comes from Lance’s surroundings. That can’t be normal, either…

“Sorry for calling you, but this guy seems to like me a lot. I didn’t know how to explain he’s not my type,” jokes Lance. That sounds a bit more like himself, except his voice is raspy and dark. There’s a veiled sadness in every word, and Keith wonders if it’s really like that or he is just imagining it because he has been listening about his bad state all day.

“Well… Sorry to disappoint you, but I think he may just have a taste for quintessence,” says the black paladin. He realizes that, for multiverse creatures like Cosmo, Lance was probably like a succulent free buffet right now.

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense… Well, now I feel used,” mumbles Lance, sighing. Keith can’t help smiling, though the smile disappears when he notices the sad expression of his teammate, this time for sure. His eyes are dreary and feverish, making him look so helpless.

Should he say something? He just observes Lance for a while, deciding what to do, and the boy fidgets, probably wondering why Keith isn’t leaving yet. Honestly, he wonders the same, but… it’s like leaving Lance alone now wasn’t the right thing to do. He just… can’t.

Lance can’t believe his eyes when Keith just sits by his side on the bed, crossing his arms, with Cosmo trying to climb on him again. His master holds him to make him sit on the floor, where the wolf stays, reluctantly obedient, whimpering every now and then.

“Uh…” Lance is at a loss for words, but Keith is the one who has things to say. Not like he knows where to start, though. He was so out of his element.

“So…” Keith clears his throat, feeling awkward, “I heard you’ve had a rough time lately. How are you holding up?”

“What?”

It’s a bit too late to realize, but Keith remembers that Lance probably isn’t in the mood for chatter and he scratches his head, feeling dumb.

“Uh, I mean, I know this may not be a good moment, but…”

He stops when he sees Lance’s expression. He isn’t mad. He is shocked. But not only that: what leaves Keith breathless is how incredibly vulnerable Lance looks for a fleeting moment. That new unnamed face quickly vanishes, though, replaced by a poor imitation of his classic smug face.

“Hah, who would have ever thought. Local mullet man worried about his pesky rival,” he says.

Keith feels the old pinch of anger at the nickname, but is set in not engaging in any bickering.

“Times change,” he answers. Lance scoffs, resting his head more comfortably and letting one stiff hand travel to his damp hair, combing it clumsily. It has to be the familiarity of this movement, so casual, what is making Keith feel anxious.

“Times change, yeah. And for the better, right? We’re finally on track,” says Lance. Then he adds, “well… most of us.”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith.

Lance looks at the ceiling instead of him, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I dunno, man. I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Not that it has been of any help, anyway,” he mutters. Keith has an idea of what he could be talking about.

“What happened to Shiro isn’t your fault, if that’s what bothers you.”

Lance blinks slowly.

“I know everyone will say that, and yeah, you’re right. I’m not the one who did… _t-that_ to him,” he stammers, as if saying the word made it worse, “but he reached out to me, you know? Of all people he could try to reach, he called for me… and I didn’t do shit about it.”

“There’s no way you could—” tries to explain Keith, but Lance cuts him raising his voice.

“I KNOW! I know…” his eyes are shiny and Keith realizes this is Allura’s conversation all over again.

He is honestly so done by this point.

“Lance, this is absurd. It wasn’t your fault, and Shiro is ok. He’s back,” says Keith, wondering how many more times he will have to repeat the same thing.

 “But no thanks to me. Like always,” Lance grumbles, his jaw trembling.

“Is that what bothers you?” questions Keith, starting to feel irritated, “this isn’t a race to be a hero.”

Lance lets out a short laugh that sounds more like a strained bark.

“Says _the_ hero! Look at you, man! You wouldn’t understand how I feel,” he snaps.

“What are you even talking about?” asks Keith, completely lost.

“Oh my god, Keith, don’t make me spell it out to you. You come back looking like a goddamn superhero to unmask Lotor, rescue Shiro and save the universe in like, one day. Gimme a break.”

His hands are clenching his sheets, and he insists in looking at the ceiling. Keith is mute, in a weird mix of anger and shame. The sick paladin’s cheeks are bright red and his chest raises and descends too quickly, as if he had trouble breathing, but he keeps talking anyway.

“And what’s my contribution? Get sick and bother everyone? If I don’t get well quickly, we’re gonna take even longer to leave—”

“Lance, cut it out. You are only mulling on everything to feel sorry for yourself. Stop it,” says Keith, brutally honest. Lance blinks twice.

“You wouldn’t get it, dude,” he repeats, dragging the words now.

Keith sighs. He is really, _really_ done.

“Listen, I know the team hasn’t been nice to you lately. Yeah, they told me themselves,” says Keith, when Lance looks at him, furrowing his eyebrows in surprise. “They are sorry, and they are worried. No one thinks it’s your fault to be sick, because of course it isn’t. They just want you to get better.”

Lance shifts under the covers, and Keith notices how his breathing is now fast and uncoordinated. He gets closer, worried, but not daring to touch him.

“Hey, do you need me to call someone? This fever looks even worse than before…”

“No…” Lance shuts his eyes, and he looks about to cry, which freezes Keith’s blood. “I’m sorry. I just… I’m so tired of this. All of this.”

“But—”

Keith stops when he can’t distinguish anymore if the drop falling on the side of Lance’s face is sweat or a tear. His lower lip is trembling as he speaks.

“When you were gone, Shiro wasn’t acting like himself. I knew it, but I didn’t do anything at all. Then the real Shiro calls me, and guess what? I didn’t do anything at all either.” He sniffs and presses his eyes in a furious, pained frown. “I saw how Lotor and Allura were working in their damn ship, and even though I had a bad feeling, I didn’t do anything to stop them either. In everything Pidge and Hunk work I can’t do shit, in every mission I end up hurt… tell me, Keith, now that you’re back… do you really need this liability in _your_ team?”

“Lance…” Keith is sure these words aren’t new. They are stagnant after being on his mind for weeks, maybe months. And since he knows a thing or two about guilt and brooding, he wants to say something, make Lance snap out of it, because from his point of view, none of his worries had any real basis, all coming from a dark place where he really shouldn’t be.

But then Lance is breaking in front of his eyes, and he can’t say a word.

“I— I don’t think I can do this anymore, Keith.”

His feverish eyes refuse meet his gaze. They go down again, trembling fingers grabbing the sheets for dear life.

“Please… take me home?”

Nothing, not even the heartbreaking visions he had seen in the Quantum Abyss could have prepared Keith for this moment. In front of him, Lance looks like a hurt child, lonely and lost. He can’t help but see himself in that image, in the weirdest turn of events. Cosmo whimpers, trying to climb the bed again.

This is unexpected, but it’s actually just an extension of a problem they were dragging from long ago, since that night when Lance entered his room and informed him that there were more paladins than Lions, wondering if he should step down. Instead of solving the issue, that time he had run away. He had made a choice, giving up his own place, thinking that would fit everyone better, convinced he wasn’t made to lead, unworthy of staying. And even though his personal journey had ended well, he wasn’t proud of his choices. He didn’t solve the initial problem at all, not for him nor anyone else. He didn’t realize then, but if he really had wanted to help Lance and even Shiro, leaving wasn’t the way. Leaving was never the right choice, even when you had _no other_ choice. That’s something Krolia and he had learned together after a long, painful process.

“You really want to leave?” Keith asks, serious. In a daring move, he grabs his wrist to make him pay attention, without much success. “You know you’re gonna regret it. People always regret leaving. Look at Krolia. Look at…”

 _‘Me’_ he wants to say, but he doesn’t. Not like Lance notices, his eyes barely open while he struggles to stay awake and coherent.

“Your mom is nice. I wish mine was here. I wonder what she’d say...”

“…”

“She never liked quitters though.”

“Lance, c’mon…”

“I don’t know, Keith. I don’t even know anymore. Sorry. I just don’t know…”

He’s falling asleep or unconscious, with his mouth open. He mutters one last “Sorry” before his damp face sinks completely in his pillows, his eyelids moving eerily. This is no normal fever, and he needs to call someone right now, decides Keith, standing up like a robot and leaving the room, followed by Cosmo.

Krolia is just outside, surprising him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

“I was looking for Cosmo. Is something wrong?” she asks, scanning his face.

“Lance is feeling bad again,” he answers. He doesn’t realize his own hands are a bit jittery until he tries to reach his comm. Asking for help, they wait outside for people to come. Krolia is watching her son.

“You are really worried,” she says.

“He…” Keith exhales, pressing his back against the wall, crossing his arms, “he wants to leave. I think he’s thinking of staying on Earth once we arrive.”

Krolia crosses her arms too.

“I see. Well, what will you do?”

“There’s nothing I can do. If that’s what he wants…” mumbles Keith, but Krolia frowns.

“And are you sure that will be the best for him?”

“Does it matter? It’s not like we can force him—” Keith tries to explain.

“Of course not. Everyone has to make their own decisions. But… if he’s making a _terrible_ decision, are you just going to let him?”

“I can’t judge if it’s terrible or not, Krolia. If he’s tired of this, it’s his thing,” snaps Keith. She doesn’t comment anything back. 

They remain silent until Allura comes with the rest of the crew and he explains part of what has happened. He doesn’t tell them a word of what Lance has said, though. While Allura works inside the room with a few rebel medics, the rest just wait for news outside, passing up and down the hall, worried.

When the tired princess emerges again, she assures them that Lance is going to be better after this crisis. She would be checking on him again in a few hours, and the rebels set turns to look after him, allowing the paladins to rest. She compels the team to do so and trust that Lance would be back in shape soon.

Relieved and sleepy, the crew are retiring to their newly assigned quarters, but before they reach them, Keith excuses himself and makes a short detour, followed by Cosmo and his mother. He knows her well enough by now to understand that she still has something to say.

“What is it? You are staring,” he says, stopping in front of a round window, looking the dry scenery outside. Since his mother is still quiet, he looks at her, suspicious. Surprisingly, she is smirking.

“You have a soft spot for pitiful creatures, don’t you?” she declares.

Keith feels his cheeks hot.

“What are you talking about?” he grumbles. Krolia smiles.

“Like when you took Cosmo in. He was small, alone and helpless…”

“What’s your point?” Keith is irritated. He can’t deny it, and that pisses him off. His mother also knows him too well by this point.

“I don’t intend to meddle,” says Krolia, “but I know for a fact that you value this Lance boy. You spoke a lot about him.”

“I didn’t,” says Keith, blushing even more. If by ‘speaking’ Krolia actually meant ‘ranting’, that was way more accurate.

“I was under the impression that he was passionate about your mission. You said he was always trying to get ahead of you,” says Krolia.

“I— he is. He has this hero obsession…” mumbles Keith.

“Well. In that case, do you think he will be satisfied going back? What will happen after you leave him on Earth?” she asks.

Keith is silent. His gut is trying to tell him something, but he ignores it. Krolia speaks again.

“I know it’s not my place to say. But I just… I think your mission is something so unique, it would be hard to leave it behind. If he drops, he probably won’t have another chance to join you. And you could never see him again.”

Keith looks outside, feeling a pinch on his stomach. It didn’t have to be like that, maybe they could see him again if he stayed working for the Garrison, like Samuel Holt... or something. But having in count how hard it was for them to go back home now, it wasn’t like they would have the luxury to visit often. Also, as paladins they had so much to do, and the future was very uncertain...

Getting real, leaving the team would mean a permanent goodbye. If Lance quitted, they’d never have him around again. And Keith is shocked at how much this realization affects him. He just… he never expected it.

Krolia puts a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back from his thoughts.

“I don’t say you have to force him to stay. I just say, maybe he is making the wrong choice because he doesn’t know any better. He will have some time before we reach Earth, maybe he’ll change his mind.” She clutches his shoulder fondly. “Well, that’s all. I guess I have a soft spot for people leaving their families, too.”

Keith gives her a side smile.

“I guess,” he says. She pats his back and wishes him goodnight, walking to her own quarters, but Keith stays there, with Cosmo sitting loyally by his side, lost in his thoughts.

In the Quantum Abyss, Krolia and him saw just a few snippets of the future, many less than past ones. They concluded that it was probably due to every present action constantly modifying the future. Maybe nothing was really set on stone. All his future visions seemed to be about close enough events, like the fight with Shiro. An unknown woman crying in a dark place. A lounge with Pidge furiously typing something by his side, a tall, golden room full of people and the whole team wearing strange clothes, a Galra fleet ahead of Voltron…

Then there was Lance. He seemed to be in a beach back on Earth, standing there alone, in casual clothes, arms crossed, looking at the sea. Keith saw himself getting closer, Lance watching him, with empty eyes. Lance opened his mouth to talk, but he never heard what he said.

That short, insignificant scene just told him then that they would be back to Earth at some point, but now it holds another meaning.

Lance could be leaving. Maybe that’s where the team would say goodbye to him. Maybe that’s the last time he would see him.

The thought makes his hands clench.

Just like him, Lance had been going through his own set of troubles and the main problem seems to be his inability to tolerate loneliness. It seems absurd to Keith that someone with his social skills is having a meltdown because of that, but a part of him really resonates with it. He knows better than anyone how is it to feel alone while surrounded by people. He even envied Lance somewhere on the road, watching him live his way, never awkward, always smiling, while he felt miserable, useless and alone, always depending on Shiro to keep it together.

Who would have guessed the papers could turn this way? Now he had found everything he lacked before, getting to terms with his past and growing into a new man. Maybe it was just Lance’s turn…

_Can’t force him to stay. He doesn’t know any better. It will take a while to go back._

Lance’s sad, flushed face is so different to the face he made when Keith arrived at the Castle. He even called him “cooler and grizzled”. Keith laughs to himself, but then coughs and stops. He hadn’t been too nice, now that he recalls.

_Will you let him make a bad decision?_

If he could help it, no. But how…?

_You could never see him again._

Closing his eyes, Keith inhales and exhales. They had time. It would take a while to reach Earth. He would never force Lance to continue if he couldn’t take it anymore, if he missed his home so much he wished to quit. But what he _could_ do was help him make a good decision, at least. One that he wouldn’t regret later, whatever it ended being.

And that meant that, instead of refuting his reasons to go back, he could show him reasons to _stay_. How? That would have to come on the road. For now, showing him that someone cares sounds like a good start. Because… yeah. Apparently, he cares enough to stand in a hall thinking about it for half an hour.

_You have a soft spot for pitiful creatures, don’t you?_

“Goddamnit,” mutters Keith, walking towards his room. Cosmo tilts his head at the curse, following his grumpy master, who is carefully trying to avoid asking himself why he is so invested in this new, bothersome issue with that specific, bothersome man he missed just… a regular amount while he was away.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins. My fav name for the wolfie is Yorak, but in this fic I had to use the "Cosmo" theory for reasons you will know next chapter ;).
> 
> Since I'm still building this Frankenstein monster, feel free to request things you would like to see here! If you have any hc I can try to make them space. The 5 chapters are going to be just me doing my habitual thing, getting them into absurd, convenient situations, just like my [post s5 oneshot series.](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1024142)
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it enough to at least be intrigued! Remember you can also find me on [Tumblr.](http://www.silverineontherun.tumblr.com)


	2. Reason #1: Yorak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith struggles with his self-imposed duty of showing Lance he cares about him, but when they have to help the Omega Shield Station again, they make an unexpected and tiny new addition to the list of reasons for Lance to stay around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Pregnancy (female lol you can't never be sure now) and mentions of childbirth pain. Nothing explicit, don't worry! // Background/Minor character death. 
> 
> Sorry for taking so long, and INFINITE thanks for the kind comments and kudos! They fueled me through these two tortuous weeks of fighting the block. Only problem? This got a bit out of hand and isn't as light as I promised. But still dumb enough. Thanks to my dear friend [Kunfetti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kunfetti/pseuds/Kunfetti) for the motherly tips <3.
> 
> Friendly reminder that all of these were meant to be oneshots at some point, meaning every chapter can be extra long and extra... extra. Hope you enjoy!

The first four days at the rebel base in Ireti pass in what feels like one chaotic minute.

Next morning after the episode in the quarantine room, Keith finds himself walking through the bronze colored corridors towards the medbay, sleepy and sore. While last night he tried to enjoy resting in his first decent bed in literal years, sleep evaded him for a long time. The loop of Lance’s petition and his feverish eyes kept repeating in his mind for a long while.

He had decided to help. He would voluntarily meddle in an issue that he isn’t sure he can manage that well, only because it feels like the right thing to do, or something. The fact that his motivation is so weak and fuzzy, but still managed to rob him of some sleep is the most disturbing part. And Krolia’s words had been the catalyst, he grumpily thinks. _You could never see him again._ It shouldn’t be so ominous, but it is.

When he reaches the crowded medbay and finds the rest of the team waiting for him, he wonders if it would be the same with any of them.

 _…Probably_ , he concludes, relegating the issue to a second plane while he joins everyone around the deactivated pod as they wait in respectful silence for their leader to wake up.

Shiro opens his eyes and, with some effort, slowly sits by himself, observing the faces around him with hazy eyes. Then his mouth curves in the shadow of a smile and the tension breaks: the entire team, including Coran and Matt Holt, explode in a weeping mess that menaces to crush Shiro under a violent hug. Keith, worried, tries to control the situation in fear of scaring or hurting Shiro, but he is just chuckling softly and accepting every hug, pat in the back and tear. However, after another quick look around he finally lets his voice out, and his first question is to be expected.

“Where is Lance?”

The noise stops and the crew sits around him, while Allura explains the nature of Lance’s sickness and assures him that he will be fine in a couple of days. Keith wonders if that’s true. Last night, Lance looked alarmingly at the verge of collapse, enough to let an impression on him. However, Shiro just nods and then his eyes linger on his own right side, searching for what should be there, but isn’t anymore. Keith feels his stomach fill with guilt and the room turns colder, the whole team following the path of his eyes with equal sadness.

Shiro wouldn’t be able to fly, for now, and it was his fault. He had done what had to be done, but even so, even if it was a clone, he—

The clone. That is the question that floats around and Keith knows that everyone is eager to ask Shiro about it, but no one dares. He is sure that Shiro knows this too, but he doesn’t seem willing to talk. Maybe he doesn’t know where to begin, and really, who could blame him.

To Keith’s surprise, is Matt Holt who saves the situation, stepping in immediately to talk about the plans they had been discussing to design a cool prosthetic arm for Shiro, with Allura’s help and the engineers from their specialized base in Kara-tur, in the Xenui quadrant. They would be stopping there in their way to Olkarion, and by “they” he means he’s coming too, he announces with a wide smile.

Maybe because he is really convincing or just because the hopeful, naïve enthusiasm of Matt is contagious, but he’s the first one to get a real smile from Shiro, lifting the spirits and allowing them to talk about more superficial things, like making plans about their stay. Shiro manifests his will to speak to everyone again after the whole team could be present, meaning that they could talk in more depth once Lance had recovered. Everyone agrees wholeheartedly.

Keith tries to stay near him but duty gets in the way and it’s impossible to find a moment of respite to talk. Krolia informs him that Kolivan called and he would personally visit them as soon as tomorrow, which has them working together for the rest of the day in their report of the long, excruciating mission they had almost forgotten about. How to summarize their two lifechanging years together, after all?

“I think the best part will be the conclusion of this report,” says Krolia, typing on a holographic screen provided by the rebels.

“You mean, after explaining how we passed two years aboard a space whale, discovered a fake planet full of individuals from an extinct race and denounced the Galra Emperor?” asks Keith, trying to find an elegant way to explain exactly that. Put it that way it sounded like a mediocre sci-fi novel.

“Yes. To think that after all that, I’ll have to put: In conclusion, Ranveig’s weapon status is still unknown, but we think it ate some Galra. Sorry Kolivan.”

Keith bursts into laughter, but Krolia barely smiles at her own joke since, in fact, they truly failed their original mission. However, her fond eyes are set on her cackling son, and the faint smile doesn’t abandon her face for a long while.

At the end of the day, tired and quite sleepy, Keith takes one last stroll around the base, and his feet lead him to Lance’s door. Outside the quarantine room, he stands for a solid minute deciding if he should knock or not. The rest of the team had been visiting him during the day and giving him periodical reports that Lance had overcome his last crisis and was much better, but he wonders if his presence could be a bother this time. Maybe Lance didn’t want to face him, after what had happened last night. Maybe Keith’s visit would agitate him too much and, ultimately, lead to another crisis.

Or maybe Lance would resort to his bad habit of denying what ashamed him, and then Keith would be pissed for being this invested in a mere tantrum. Yeah, that would be pretty… bad.

He sighs, turning on his heels and walking away from the door. It’s so late, anyway. They can talk later. At least he knows Lance is recovering and, for now, that’s all that matters.

* * *

 

Next day, Kolivan arrives with a few other brothers from the Blade. It’s good to see them again, Keith thinks while shaking hands and slapping each other backs. However, the news they bring aren’t good. They improvise an assembly in the meeting room.

“The Galra Empire is still trying to figure out what happened to their Emperor. No official statement has been given to the high ranks, but many of Lotor’s enemies started moving again,” says Kolivan.

“Do you think they could accuse us of… betraying Lotor? Should we accuse him first?” Allura asks, looking at Romelle, who is standing in a corner.

“I’m afraid what we say doesn’t matter. Lotor’s demise will be used to rally and join the Empire. His rule was controversial and many traditionalists despised him, it’s a perfect chance for them to unify his supporters and enemies under a new common cause,” explains Kolivan, and everyone tenses. Would that mean the war would start again? This time, team Voltron would be far away from it.

“I see. We can’t let them know about the Alteans then, they could reach that place before we can make it. It has to be kept a secret until we can go and rescue them,” says Allura, and Romelle bites her lower lip, angry. The princess shows an apologetical expression. As much as Allura wishes to go running directly to her people, their priority is recovering the castle, as they had already heatedly discussed during the first half of their trip.

“I’m not letting anyone else be harmed by my foolishness…”

Keith can hear the princess mutter these words under her breath. He finds Coran’s eyes on her too, sympathetic. They cross a small glance, but Keith really can’t think about Allura’s guilt now. Not when they have to hurry and fix everything first. 

The meeting extends for a while until they decide to pass the order of discreet retreat. Kolivan asks to talk with Krolia in private and Keith finally has a chance to slip out, seeking for Shiro.

In one of the terraces of the base, they are alone for the first time since their battle and they have the mandatory conversation about it. An apology for the arm goes. An apology for the new scar comes. And for the pain he caused him, for his bravery, for believing in him and saving his life. Shiro is proud of Keith, but also hurt, scared and confused, and it’s heartbreaking. The former leader can’t tear his guilty eyes away from Keith’s new scar while he explains as best as he can what he recalls about his experience inside Black. He isn’t ready to discuss it any further yet, though, excusing himself from any considerations about the clone situation, Keith understanding that he may need a lot of time to sort things out before speaking to anyone, including him. He can get it. It can wait, as long as Shiro is safe and well.

“I really should stop making you rescue me every single time, though,” Shiro adds, eyes softening and the shadow of a smile appearing on his lips.

“I told you before, didn’t I? I’ll do it as many times as it takes,” answers Keith with a smirk, but then he sees how Shiro drops his eyes and he understands why these words are heavy, feeling a lump on his throat.

He had made that promise to ‘the other’ Shiro. But this Shiro knows and remembers. Were all of the moments and experiences of his clone as valid and real as this moment is?

However, Shiro raises his gaze and the proud, warm smile he shows as he pulls Keith for a hug fills his eyes with embarrassing tears he doesn't let escape. Not only had he missed for literal years this man who had been his only family, a true brother during the worst times of his life, but they had been about to die side by side… barely a few days ago. In the chaos from previous days, he hadn’t stopped to considerate anything, too occupied with his newly assumed leadership, but something about this familiar hug brings the images from that nightmarish day to cross his eyes, making him have one sudden, scary realization.

The more people you love and let inside your life, the more risk there is to lose them.

Before, he only had Shiro, so all his fear was concentrated on him. But now, he has a huge family to protect in the middle on an intergalactic war and, damn… he is in charge. The number of possible outcomings descends over him in all its frightening magnitude and leaves him breathless. That fear must be transmitting to Shiro, who knows him too well, because he immediately grabs his shoulder, shaking him fondly.

“Hey, don’t let it get to you. We are here now. All of us, at last,” he says.

Keith nods, thinking how weird had been the turn of events that brought all of them finally together. Shiro pats Keith’s shoulder with pride.

“I know you’ve got this. And I’m gonna be by your side for anything you need… this time for real,” Shiro softly laughs, letting go of Keith’s shoulder. He knows that Shiro is making an effort to sound positive and happy, so he should give him other things to think about.

“I know,” agrees Keith, smiling, “And I also know you wanna ask about Krolia. I saw you looking at us on the meeting room.”

“Busted. But don’t forget the wolf, I want to know about him too,” jokes Shiro and Keith chuckles, talking about his experience on the Quatum Abyss while the pale sun starts setting on the horizon.

Familiarity, security and love. Three things he lacked for so long, now split into many parts and the only missing one had been this, telling Shiro about it like the old times. He is so… satisfied now. The last rays of sun abandon them on the terrace as he finishes his story.

However, while they are silently watching the scenery, a clear image of Lance in his bed, sweating and crying appears again in Keith’s mind, making his stomach tighten in surprise. He turns to look at the windows of the lower floor. One of these round windows was the red paladin’s…

Almost as if reading his mind, Shiro makes Keith flinch with a sudden question.

“Where is Lance resting?”

“Uh, Lance?” stutters Keith, as if he was caught red handed in something. “Are you— do you want to visit him?”

“Yes,” confirms Shiro, but doesn’t comment anything else. Instead, he smiles at Keith and adds: “Could you take me there?”

“Sure.”

After dropping Shiro by the corridor and waving him goodbye, he’s still convincing himself that he has so much to do. Things to arrange, decisions to make. Calls to answer. He avoids the corridor for the rest of the day, even when his feet intend to take him there _again_ before going to sleep. No. He had a lot to do next day. Besides, it was so late already, and he hadn’t visited the day before. Too awkward. Too unnecessary. He was being visited regularly, anyway. Even Shiro went, and who knows what they talked about. No need to stress Lance even more with his uncomfortable presence. They’d have time to figure out everything later… he’d help him. But later.

 _Excuses_ , says the insistent voice in his head, that sounds remarkably like Krolia.

Grumbling, Keith just turns in his new bed, feeling Cosmo breathing by his side. Yeah, he is utterly failing his new self-imposed mission, but doesn’t feel like recognizing it yet. It would make him feel too pathetic. Why was he so cocky about helping Lance, when he can’t even help himself most of the time? Just because he is so happy now, doesn’t mean he automatically can help the rest to deal with their issues.

_But it doesn’t mean you can’t at least try your best, either._

He drowns the pesky little voice in the million other things he has to pay attention to, until he drifts into oblivion.

 

* * *

 

“How are you feeling today?”

“I’d say as good as yesterday.”

“And… is that good or bad?” asks Keith, arching one eyebrow. Shiro laughs, grabbing his new jacket and trying to put it on by himself.

“It’s good, Keith, don’t worry. I’m doing fine.”

It’s the fourth day in the base. Meaning, it’s also the fourth day that Lance spends in bed. The guilt for not visiting him is summing up to the curiosity about Shiro’s visit. While helping him with his new clothes, he can’t decide if he should ask or not about Lance. What if the boy had shared with Shiro his doubts? He was far more reliable, maybe that was the best that could happen… he really wants to know if he can stop torturing himself about it or not.

“What’s on your mind?” suddenly asks Shiro, interrupting his furious inner battle and making Keith jump.

“Wha— Nothing,” stutters the paladin, but Shiro insists in looking at him incredulous. Keith sighs.

“It’s nothing, I’m just wondering… You visited Lance yesterday, right?”

“Yes…” Shiro is cocking one eyebrow affably.

“Did… Did he say anything… _weird_ to you?” Keith manages to ask. Shiro tilts his head slightly to one side, now curious.

“Weird? We had a good chat yesterday, but I don’t know about it being ‘weird’. You wanna hear about something in particular?” he retorts, making Keith frown.

“Don’t say it like that. I’m not trying to pry.”

“Hey, I know. I’m seriously asking: what are you worried about?” asks Shiro, and he sits in his chair, as if he is bracing for a serious conversation. Under his other thoughts, Keith can’t help but smile in relief. This image is so ‘traditional Shiro’. Keith crosses his arms and says:

“It’s just… It’s been more than two years for me, but not for everyone else, so I expected to feel confused around the guys. I guess I somehow expected to come back and find them just like I left them. But then…”

The black paladin sighs.

“I discovered that a lot of things have changed. And I guess that… disturbs me. I’m not sure how to act,” confesses Keith, pressing his back against the wall.

“Yeah, that makes two of us,” mutters Shiro. After a long pause, he raises his eyes at Keith. “What about Lance?”

“Huh?”

“You were asking specifically about him. What’s the matter?” asks Shiro.

“Ah, nothing. Just that,” lies Keith.

Shiro seems to consider something for a while, the way he moves his head making the morning light reflect on his white hair. He looks so much older now.

“Well,” he finally says, “I guess we just have to adapt. Instead of trying to identify and fix all the things that have changed, maybe we should just keep going forward and deal with one issue at a time, don’t you think?”

Keith takes a while to answer.

“I guess,” he finally concedes, hitting the floor with his heel, in impatient rhythmical taps. Shiro notices that motion and lets a subtle smile show.

“Oh, yeah, now that you mention it. About Lance…” The heel stops tapping the floor. “I think he will be released today. Yesterday, Allura told me that he was almost ready to get out, so maybe you should pay him a visit before they discharge him.”

“Shouldn’t I wait until he is out, then?” asks Keith, walking towards the window to check the light covering the low hills of pale granite outside. Was it too early?

Too late or too early _. Excuses again_. He sighs with his hands on the round crystal. Shiro chuckles, making Keith turn his head towards him.

“As I said, I think it’d be good to deal with one issue at a time. I’ll do my best too, but I think you should visit Lance. Bet he’ll appreciate it.”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith, but then the door slides open and Matt Holt enters the room. He halts when he sees Keith.

“Oh, sorry. I just came to check if you needed help with the new clothes.”

There it is again, thinks Keith. The genuine smile appears in Shiro’s face just like the first day.

“Thanks Matt, Keith helped me. I’ll get used to it in no time, though.”

“Nice to know. Well, then…” Matt gives one step back to leave the room, but Keith quickly walks to Shiro and pats his shoulder.

“I’m off, then. See ya later, Shiro.”

“Sure, see you.”

Keith waves at Matt when he passes by his side and leaves the room. He feels like it’s better for Shiro to share some time with all the people that visits him, no need to be selfish with his time. He has things to do, anyway… Like running away from his moral duties, for example.

He stops in the middle of the corridor. Should he really go visit Lance now?

Guiltily, he understands that the real reason why he fears to visit Lance again is that, as much as he wants to help, he has no idea of what to do to show ‘he cares’, even though he does. He really does, two days sleeping like crap have to be enough proof. Scratching his head, he wonders what Shiro really knows.

But even if Shiro was more adequate to deal with Lance, it just doesn’t feel right to leave it at that. That vulnerable, hurt face he saw is pretty much engraved in his memory and he should quickly replace it with a less pitiful memory. If Lance was better now, he should really talk to him.

Decided, he heads to the quarantine room and stops in front of the door. He shifts his weight between his heels and toes, one last moment of doubt. Sighing, he understands he’s finally run out of excuses and touches the panel at his right.

“Come in,” says Lance’s voice through it, and Keith obeys.

The door slides open and he is greeted by a surprise. Lance is turning his head towards the visitor from his position, sitting on his bed looking outside his window, with no other than Cosmo curled by his side, occupying most of the bed. The wolf perks up as soon as he smells Keith outside, waving his tail, but doesn’t teleport to his arms when he crosses the door this time.

“Cosmo? What are you doing here?” asks Keith, and Lance automatically drops his gaze from the door to the wolf. It’s pretty obvious, thanks to the brilliant light of Ireti’s morning sun, how his ears are tinting in a rosy tone.

The image is making the corners of Keith’s mouth twitch again. At least he isn’t the most nervous on the room.

“H-hey man,” greets him Lance, offering his hand to Cosmo, who lazily licks it. “He is just paying his daily visit. He’s been coming every day.”

“What, really? And you didn’t call me to take him out?” asks Keith, surprised. He really should pay more attention to where his multiverse wolf is chilling.

“Well, now that I’m not as tasty he isn’t trying to crush me, so we made a truce. Guess he’s cute when he’s not trying to kill you,” Lance smiles, petting the big wolf’s head. “Besides, Mrs.— Uh… Your mom? She’s been coming to take him. First time she said she knew he’d be here.”

Keith frowns. Krolia conveniently forgot to mention that detail during the last two days. However, the fact that Lance seems to be insecure about how to refer to Keith’s mother makes him snort.

“Just call her Krolia,” he says, walking towards the bed and sitting on the opposite side, Cosmo slowly turning to him.

“You sure about that? She’s a lady I wouldn’t like to piss off,” mumbles Lance. Keith laughs.

“If you call her Mrs. Anything, THEN she’s probably gonna be pissed.”

“Roger that.”

Awkward silence. Keith clears his throat. He just has to start by the basics. No need to panic.

“So. How are you feeling?” he asks. There. _Basics_.

“As good as new,” answers Lance, turning to sit in front of Keith, legs crossed. Keith shots him a distrusting grimace, making Lance raise his hands. “For real! I’m fine already. They said I’m ready to go out today. Though I’m not leaving until I can get rid of these pajamas, I feel gross after being bedridden for so long. I haven’t been this sick since I was like nine and…”

Keith lets his eyes roam over Lance’s appearance while he speaks, verifying his state. He looks remarkably better, even with disheveled, dirty hair. He had brought his old pajamas from the castle too, so the image is somehow nostalgic, making him smirk. Lance suddenly grabs his pillow, covering himself with it.

“Dude, could you _not_? I know I look nasty already, alright?”

“Haven’t said anything,” says Keith, crossing his arms and looking the other way. Certainly, it wasn’t very polite to look at people like that for so long, blushing a little at the idea of behaving unconsciously like a creeper. However, is Lance now who shots him a not so subtle glance.

“What about you, Mullet, trying to impress someone?” he asks.

“What?”

“Yeah, showing off the new build, I see? What happened to the jacket?” Lance asks, pointing an accusing finger at Keith’s arms.

His pants and boots were new, provided by the rebels, since the only thing that still fitted him was his old shirt, though not as comfortably loose as before, stretching a bit at the shoulders. They didn’t have many things that would fit humans, but Matt had done his best to give him something similar to go with his ‘bad boy style’, as he had embarrassingly called it. He threw the old ones, except for the jacket. Even though the general opinion seemed to be that he’d do the universe a service by burning it, it was an old gift by Shiro, so it was just stored with the rest of his few belongings.

“My old clothes didn’t fit anymore. I doubt anyone else around here notices the change, though” Keith declares in a sarcastic tone.

“Then whoever made you toss the red jacket earned all my respect,” sneers Lance.

Again, Keith feels the old burn of childish anger every time he finds himself engaging with Lance in these silly, petty arguments. Except this time, instead of snapping at him like before without thinking, he has the sudden, tingly impulse to tease the other boy back. Grinning, he says:

“Well, that’s what happens when you come back… how was it? Bigger, cooler and… something else?”

Lance opens his eyes wide, then growls and faces the ceiling with his cheeks burning.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he hisses.

“Figures,” Keith mutters. He is having a very distant (and unexpectedly bitter) déjà vu.

“What’s that?” asks Lance, defiant.

He could have dropped the subject, but no. He always insisted in stretching these arguments for sport and Keith always stumbled on these dynamics before, taking the bait every single time and feeling dumb later. But, now? Not gonna work. Calm and collected, Keith decides it’s the perfect opportunity to get to the point.

“Nothing. Just wondering if this sudden amnesia includes the other night, when you told me you wanted to quit.”

It could have been a little less petty, but whatever. He can feel the atmosphere of the room shift. Even Cosmo feels it, raising his head, curious. Lance hugs his pillow and stammers.

“N-no… I just…”

“Listen, Lance,” says Keith, trying to soften the situation, “I just want to know if you really meant what you said. I’m not trying to accuse you or anything.”

The boy squints.

“Did you tell anyone about it?” he asks.

“No,” replies Keith with honesty. But then he remembers he told Krolia… did telling secrets to your mother count? He was new at this parenting stuff.

“Not even Shiro?” Lance interrupts his thoughts, with an untrusting face.

“Not even Shiro,” Keith confirms, and then frowns. “He came to visit you, didn’t he? You’d know if I told him.”

 Lance blows air up, moving his own bangs.

“I… guess? But he…”

Lance chews on the inside of his cheek, and sighs, not finishing the idea. This makes Keith even more curious about what they talked about, but the boy clutches the pillow like a shield as he takes a deep breath and speaks again.

“Hey, did— did I really say I wanted to quit?”

Keith feels a rock dropping over his head.

“You said ‘I can’t do this anymore’ and ‘please take me home’, don’t you remember?” he asks mechanically. Lance groans and blushes profusely again, hiding his face on the pillow.

“Oh man, I can’t believe this…”

“You don’t remember?” repeats Keith. It had to be a joke. Two nights sleeping like shit for this?

“I do! I mean— I remember saying a lot of embarrassing things. But towards the end, I just was very… you know,” mumbles Lance, but no, Keith doesn’t know. He scoots very close, making Lance jerk back and gulp.

“Did you mean it or not?” he presses.

Lance bites his lower lip, avoiding Keith’s eyes.

“I honestly don’t know, Keith.”

That’s not the answer the black paladin expected. He actually expected for Lance to deny it, to blame his sickness and defy him to pry the Red Lion from his cold, dead hands. Instead, he has this deflated person fidgeting in front of him.

“Why?” he simply asks.

Lance opens and closes his mouth, searching for the right words. But it seems like he can’t find them, shaking his head and burying his face on the pillow. Keith pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Lance. If I’m asking, it’s because I need to know if I can count on you or not. We have a long road ahead and a lot of things to do, if you—”

“Of course you can count on me! It’s not like I’m gonna just, let Red there and take a nap,” grumbles Lance.

“We need you for more than just piloting Red,” states Keith.

Lance raises his gaze searching in Keith’s eyes. That look is clearly asking, “do you?” and Keith sighs.

“C’mon Lance."

“I… Well. You know you can always count on me,” says Lance, the tips of his ears red again and his voice softer, “but that’s not enough. And that’s the problem.”

“Who said it’s not enough?” asks Keith.

“Everyone?” retorts Lance, frowning. “Sure, _no one_ says so, but it’s obvious.”

“How can it be obvious if all I’ve seen is how everyone worries about you?” asks Keith, impatient. But Lance exhales.

“Keith, buddy, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but you really couldn’t know. You… weren’t here.”

First Allura, now Lance. If Keith hears that one more time, he’s going to snap. Trying to cool down his anger meter, he just takes a deep breath before speaking.

“Alright. Fine. But I’ll just say this. I’m the black paladin again, and I’m gonna need all the help I can get to not mess this up. And that includes you and Red.”

Lance snickers, not ill-intended.

“Sounds fake coming from you. You don’t look like you need that much help, honestly” he jokes. His eyes are now fixed on Keith’s new scar, making him feel suddenly self-conscious. Feeling his cheeks heating a bit, he turns to pat Cosmo before muttering:

“Everyone needs help, Lance.”

The red paladin sighs and lowers his eyes again. Keith side-glances at him, thinking about how weird is this situation. Him reassuring someone about counting on other people… hilarious.

Except it’s not, because it’s easier to say that when your whole family is with you backing you up on space. In a ridiculous plot twist, he is currently more privileged than any of his teammates on that matter, especially Lance. He had started this journey feeling homesick, and apparently is finishing it like that in addition to feeling lonely and useless. Two things that Keith knows a lot about.

Is that why he is so invested in this? Empathy? Pity? Or just because _he_ doesn’t like the idea of Lance leaving? As he watches Lance sitting there, crestfallen, he questions his own motives again. The idea that he could be selfishly insisting on this for some kind of personal benefit instead of thinking on Lance’s wellbeing is way too absurd, making him hurriedly state the facts.

“We’re heading to Earth. It’s going to take a while, but we’re gonna get there sooner or later. And if you really want to stay, I won’t stop you,” declares Keith, though his tongue feels a bit heavy. “But if you do, I expect it’s for the right reasons, at least.”

“And what are those reasons?” asks Lance.

“I don’t know. Guess it’s up to you,” says Keith. “But bear in mind that staying on Earth is leaving our mission for good. You get it... right?”

Lance looks at him and Keith notices his eyes scanning his face in quick sweeps. There’s always been something unnerving about those eyes when they were fixed on him.

“Yeah.” Lance is showing a sad smile. “I get it, team leader. I’ll… think about it. Just, keep the secret? Please?”

It must mean he already understands the consequences of leaving and, once more, that surprises Keith. Again, he expected another answer. Maybe to make Lance question himself, or say he is no coward and no quitter.

But no. He is seriously considering leaving and that feels _bad_. A restless feeling lodges on Keith’s chest, while he remembers the image he saw on the Quantum Abyss. A beach and a possible goodbye.

He nods absentmindedly, wondering if he really did good now, if he should manage this in some other way, but Lance is speaking again.

“You know, you’ve really changed. Guess Black really knows her stuff, huh…”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith.

“Well, she brought you back, in a way. She knows you’re the best one for the job.” His mouth curves in a sincere smile that shines under the morning sun. “Believe it or not… I’m glad you’re back.”

Keith’s jaw slacks a bit and he hurries to close his mouth, pressing his lips and making Lance chuckle in an arrogant way.

“What? Can’t take a compliment?”

“Is that really a compliment?” retorts Keith, arching an eyebrow.

“Of course! I’m being super nice saying it’s good to have you back, even though because of you now I’ve been demoted to number Four, as Coran informed me yesterday. FOUR! Goddammit, what did your mama feed you during all this time?” wails Lance, putting his hands behind his head in a childish way that makes Keith laugh.

“Nothing you’d like to try,” he replies, remembering their time in the Quantum Abyss.

“Not gonna share the recipe, huh? Afraid I’ll surpass you?” asks Lance. That competitive streak never ended.

“Oh wow, how did you know,” sneers Keith, standing up.

“Just give me two years. I’m gonna be taller than you and then—”

Lance interrupts himself and Keith watches the way his face drops. Right. In two years, he probably wouldn’t be around. He’d never get to check if he was taller than Keith if he chooses to leave.

The idea seems to fall heavy between both of them and Keith makes an effort to think of something else to distract the attention. But he can’t think on any more reassuring words to say.

His eyes lay on Lance’s nightstand, where his comm and bayard are close to their owner, and an idea occurs to him. To hell with words.

“So, you said you’re ready for action?”

Lance snaps out of his trance.

“Uh, yeah… after a shower, that is…” he replies.

“You up for a training session, then? I heard an interesting rumor about the red bayard. Been wanting to check it out,” says Keith, and Lance looks at him with a mix of surprise and fear.

“Are you serious?”

“Sure. Let’s see if they weren’t joking about you training like crazy.”

He looks at the way Lance’s eyes shine for a moment, but then the red paladin fidgets.

“I-I… Well, you know, I had no one to train with, so maybe—”

“Getting cold feet before even starting? That’s new,” taunts Keith. Lance blushes again, but then he grins. He still can’t say no to a challenge and that’s good to know.

“Cocky, huh! Just give me half an hour to get ready and I’ll show ya.”

“Too long. Make it fifteen minutes, I’ll be waiting on the yard,” says Keith, signaling Cosmo to move. The wolf yawns and stretches while Lance tries to protest.

“Hey! What the hell, dude!”

“Fourteen and counting!” yells Keith from the door, that slides behind him. He smiles satisfied.

That felt… good.

If there’s something only he can do for Lance right now, it’s that. And it would be infinitely better than getting tangled in useless conversations that go nowhere. Nothing like physical exercise to forget the fears and ghosts inside your mind.

 

* * *

 

Unfortunately, duty gets on their way again.

Lance comes running, hair wet and legs still a bit shaky, to meet Keith on the yard. Keith could feel his hands itching for some action, but before any of them can even taunt each other, an alarm and Allura’s voice resound everywhere.

“Paladins of Voltron, please come immediately to the meeting room. I repeat, Paladins of Voltron...”

Lance and Keith look at each other, surprised, and Keith hurries to the room, followed by Lance, who isn’t familiar with the place after being bedridden for so long.

When they arrive, they find the entire crew and a few rebels inside, all in front of the holographic screen showing a Galra face that Keith has never seen.

“… And we won’t manage to repel them long enough, our situation is desperate…”

“What’s going on?” mutters Keith to Krolia, who is in a corner.

“A Galra colony is asking for help, their people are under attack. I think it’s one Voltron helped before with a radiation shield,” she explains in a whisper.

“What?!” exclaims Lance, making everyone’s heads turn towards them. Keith sighs, exasperated, but then he remembers. Could it be the same colony Lance had almost died protecting?

“Lance, Keith, finally,” says Allura, smiling at Lance, who replicates the exact same shy smile back. She quickly adds: “Commander Bogh is explaining the situation.”

“The Empire is in chaos. Many colonies have been attacked this same way and the Central Command isn’t answering our requests at all,” says the commander, and people in the room exchange nervous looks. This has to mean that the Galra still don’t know about Lotor, then.

But Bogh is too worried to notice it, speaking quickly and glancing behind him every time a shot or thud can be heard even through the screen.

“We are desperate. If they reach the control room, they’ll deactivate the shield and burn the entire colony on the next radiation storm, so we can’t leave our post. And we can’t assist our people down there while we resist the attack…”

“Who’s attacking you?” asks Keith.

“Our own sentries and working robots. They don’t respond to our commands, we have tried shutting them down and rewrite their protocols, but it’s useless. Someone from outside must be controlling them and they are trying to kill my people,” grunts the commander. He clenches his fists and exhales, in furious resignation. “Our situation is… critical. We won’t be able to stand the attack for much longer if no one answers our distress call. If the shield is turned off, it will be our end. So, paladin Hunk…”

Hunk flinches, looking everywhere as if he can’t believe the Galra is talking to him.

“You helped us once and proved yourself an honest ally. My people are going to die unless we find help, and that’s why I’m asking you. Please… help us stop this attack or at least contain it long enough to evacuate our colony.”

If there is any sign that their long battle has changed things, it must be this. Keith doesn’t know this commander, but somehow, Hunk and the crew had managed to make a tough looking Galra trust them enough to toss his position and ‘victory or dead’ pride through the window and beg them for help. It’s a big deal.

“We are farther than last time. It’s going to take us a while to reach you, but Voltron will go,” decides Allura, asking for silent confirmation turning her head towards the other paladins, who nod. “Could the rebels back us up? We will have to split…”

The operation is discussed in record time and everyone runs to their posts. They have to hurry, because the commander has no notion about how long they can withstand the attack. However, Keith sees how Allura calls Lance before leaving the room and slows his steps unconsciously, listening.

“Are you feeling well, Lance?” she asks.

“Don’t worry, Princess. Thanks to you, I’m back in top condition and at your service,” answers Lance, in what intends to be a playful tone, but sounds a bit weak.

Keith takes one last peek at them and notices that both look way too uncomfortable. Lance quickly excuses himself with a cough and a forced wink, running until he catches Keith, who starts walking faster to not be caught peeping. Well, it’s not like he really _was_ , but…

“It’s showtime, at last!” says Lance, reaching Keith just around the corner.

“You ready for some action, then?” asks the black paladin.

Lance grins mischievously.

“Man… I was _born_ ready!”

 

* * *

 

Team Voltron escorts three rebel shuttles to help evacuate people in case the Galra transports are busted. It’s no surprise that many members of the rebel crew aren’t too happy about risking their lives for a Galra colony, but they go anyway, even if it’s just to prove they are better than their former enemies. But that makes even more urgent the need to protect the shield. If they failed…

The rebels descend to the planet surface and try to back up the colony inhabitants, to allow them to escape. Team Voltron heads directly to the Omega Shield Station.

“We need to try and hack the sentries. If we manage to stop them, then the situation will be controlled here and down in the colony,” says Keith.

“But I wouldn’t count on it. If they couldn’t undo the code then there’s not certainty that we can do it,” claims Hunk.

“We’ve got to try anyway!” says Pidge, as they set the course to the Station hangars, where they are immediately met by sentries trying to shoot them down.

“The AI control room is in the point marked on the map. Please hurry, the sentries are about to breach the shield control room,” hurries them Commander Bogh. Another voice sounds behind him.

“Sir, next radiation storm in three doboshes! What do we do?”

“Set the shield, Lahn! I’ll help hold the door, do what you are meant to do and stop asking stupid questions! _Kaffas._ ”

They are about to be hit by the next radiation flare and that could give them a few hours to take the control back if they successfully managed to keep the shields up for this one, explains Hunk. They use the Lions to clear the hangar from sentries, but they cause too much damage. There’s no other option but to go down and fight them on close combat.

Shielding themselves and with Keith ahead, the team slowly advances towards the marked control room. Pidge mentions that the room is in one of the pointed corners of the base, while Bogh and his people are on the center.

It’s a short walk from the hangar where they landed, but the intense fire from sentries and even the security systems are slowing them down. When the announced radiation belt hits the shield and station, everything shakes and light blinds them shortly. However, Lance and Hunk take the chance to shoot the unstable sentries and everything they can while covering their teammates backs. Keith, Allura and Pidge try to open a path to advance, tumbling here and there while the ground shakes under their feet like an earthquake.

It’s a dire situation, but it’s been so long since Keith fought like this that the old excitement is coming back, as well as the fear of having to deal with a wounded companion or a failed mission. He keeps special eye on Lance, wondering if he’s truly recovered, but the red paladin is in a row, shooting Galra robots as if he is in a fair, competing with Hunk to destroy laser towers and every hostile they encounter.

His team. He’s back on the team and Keith is suddenly smiling, high on adrenaline and feeling the comfortable weigh of his paladin armor over him, trashing sentries like the old times and hearing his team cheer him and yell orders and advices to each other. He truly never measured just how much he missed this until now.

“That’s the room, it has a scan panel. Keith!” yells Pidge, getting ahead too and pointing it. Keith puts his palm on the reader and the door slides open. They expected the room to be full of sentries too, but it’s weirdly empty.

“C’mon, guys! We gotta shut it,” says Lance and once the five paladins come in, Pidge connects her equipment to the mainframe and closes the door. They can see how, around the corner, a new wave of sentries is heading their way stepping over the fallen ones.

“Just how many of them can there be in a single station?” asks Lance, sitting on the floor and sighing.

“Too many, that’s why using them against themselves is a brilliant idea. Like, evil, mad scientist kind of brilliant,” mumbles Hunk, kneeling by Pidge’s side and checking if he can be of help.

“Are you all right, Lance?” asks Allura, to what Lance answers from the floor with a thumbs up.

“No problemo, Princess.”

Keith feels again the strange atmosphere around these too, but doesn’t comment anything about it. Instead, he switches channels on his comm.

“Krolia, what’s your status?”

His mother had insisted in accompanying the rebel troops. She was down there helping them hold the sentries’ fire and Keith isn’t very pleased about it.

“Not good. Some people got to their transports, but the hangars are surrounded by hostiles, they had to shut themselves inside and guard the doors. We have Galra casualties. None of ours, for now, but we are sustaining heavy fire, I’m not sure if we will be able to move from here and leave our cover.”

“Damnit. Hold there, we are trying to take control of the robots again,” says Keith.

“Don’t worry, we can hold our ground, but the longer we take, the more we risk. We underestimated the danger, even the miner machines are out of control!”

Another communication interrupts Krolia. It’s commander Bogh, and his voice is like a bark.

“Paladins, the next radiation storm could hit us in about four vargas. They are about to break the door, if they take control of this room, the shield will be turned off and we won’t survive the next one.”

“We’re working on it, how long do you think you can hold them?” asks Keith.

“Just as long as we are alive… GET DOWN!”

A heavy explosion is heard and the line is cut. The paladins look at each other, alarmed.

“They breached the control room. We have to get there at once!” says Keith, readying his Marmorian blade.

“It’s full of sentries out there, we won’t make it on time!” exclaims Hunk.

“I’m still seeing if I can do this, but I need more time!” cries Pidge, furiously typing on her screen.

“Then I’ll go,” says Keith. Before the team can protest, he raises his voice to give his orders. “Hunk, Allura, you defend this room while Pidge tries to deactivate the robots. Lance…”

The red paladin looks at him from his position on the floor, eyes wide open.

“You’re with me. Think you can do it?”

Lance stands up in a single, excited leap.

“You even asking?!” he exclaims.

“Are you sure? You’re still—”

“Let’s not waste time, leader, I’m with you!”

Keith lets out a snort at that statement. It makes him laugh, for some reason. No more time to be considerate on his teammate’s health, though.

“Let’s go then. Guys, cover us as long as you can, they are right outside.”

When the doors open, they are met by a flurry of lasers, while Hunk and Lance answer them and Allura tries to hit the sentries’ feet to make them fall. Keith uses the distraction to go melee on them. As he tries to open a path between the robots, he sees something blue rush to his side. Lance is advancing now and he holds his Altean broadsword on his hand.

“No training this morning, guess this will have to do,” teases Lance, and Keith feels a rush of enthusiasm. He should be more focused, but there’s something truly exciting about having Lance by his side with a sword in hand. They are running through the long corridor that leads them to the center of the base.

“As long as you know what to do with one of these and don’t get us killed,” he answers in a sarcastic tone, trying not to sound too excited. Lance scoffs.

“Demonstration coming right up! Think you can keep the rhythm, gramps?” boasts the red paladin, holding his bayard with a shit-eating grin.

“Tche, showoff. Don’t slow me down,” spits Keith, feeling his hands burn under the prospect of some more action.

Mirroring each other, the paladins charge against the first wave of sentries coming at them. While Keith is a master on one handed style, he notices on the corner of the eye that Lance shifts between that and a two-handed style, maybe because his sword his heavier than Keith’s blade. His movements aren’t as gracile and secure as his own, but he’s better than expected, which makes Keith’s gut jump with an unidentified emotion. Lance struggles a bit shielding himself, so Keith covers him when a sentry tries to get too smart on them.

“Don’t neglect your defense,” he scolds, making Lance growl.

“You’ve got my back, I’ve got yours! Isn’t that how this works?” he says, trashing the sentry that was insistently shooting at Keith from a corner. The black paladin grins at the old flashback he gets with these words. They weren’t too good at it not that long ago. Longer for him.

The smoke tells them they are close to the breached control room. As they get closer, the number of fallen sentries surpasses the ones working and they have to cover themselves from a few blasts coming from inside.

“It’s us! Stop shooting, we are getting there!” shouts Keith, and the lasers stop. They deal with the last robots giving them trouble and, panting, they enter huge room.

The vision is grim.

Fallen soldiers are sprawled on the floor and over the smoking consoles. A few of them are healthy enough to assist their companions, but near the door…

“Commander Bogh!” exclaims Lance, kneeling by his side. His lieutenant is by his side too. The Galra has been shot multiple times, his armor and one side of his face burned.

“The colony… what’s the status…” he blurts.

“They’re still under attack. We are trying to stop the sentries—” tries to explain Keith, but Bogh interrupts him, grabbing his ankle.

“No. No, you must evacuate. They busted the energy chargers… Go down there… save…”

Bogh’s eyes are hazy and Keith understands there’s nothing they can do for him. His lieutenant speaks, pointing at the broken panels on his right.

“The shield is working, but the energy charger controls are dead. The sequence has been interrupted and the shield may not have enough energy to withstand another radiation blast. We have to evacuate in less than three varga at most, as precaution.”   

“Ruvza… save Ruvza… please… Ruv….” still mutters Bogh, with his last breath. His head drops to one side.

A heavy silence falls between the paladins and the lieutenant, who closes his commander’s eyes.

“Who… who’s Ruvza?” asks Lance, with shaky voice.

“One of our communications officers working on the colony… the Commander’s wife,” says Lieutenant Lahn, shaking his head and trying to accommodate his wounded leg on the floor. He closes his eyes. “We lost contact with her vargas ago. She was… _is_ expecting.”

“Expecting…?” asks Keith and Lance lets his jaw drop.

“No way… expecting, like… pregnant?”

Lahn nods and sighs. Keith looks at Lance, who looks back at him shocked, his eyes scared and a bit shiny. This is the first time they really take a close look at the military Galra lives and they never stopped to think that there could be children down there in the colony. Keith gulps and reaches for his comm.

“Control room cleared, but we lost Commander Bogh. How is your progress?” he asks, in a voice that feels raspy and hard to get out. Hunk answers.

“Oh no…” he pauses, before clearing his throat and let out a chocked voice. “Nothing yet. Pidge thinks she can work at least a patch to take momentary control of them, but—”

“No, forget it. We’re going down. Pidge, leave the sentries. We need you all to come and secure this room, see if there’s a way to fix the shield. The energy chargers were busted. There are casualties and the wounded need assistance. We’re going to help in the evacuation, join us later,” commands Keith, without stopping to ask for opinions.

He looks at Lance, expecting for him to question his orders, but the red paladin just stands up and readies his bayard in the rifle form. Maybe he is too shocked to discuss the situation, thinks Keith, but at least his eyes look determined. He gestures with his head to the door and Lance follows him in silence to the hangar, walking over tens of smoking sentries, shooting here and there some, hopefully the last ones.

“Keith, we’re sending back up. Two more ships,” announces Matt Holt on his comm.

“Good. The shield may not resist another blast, we are going down to help on the evacuation,” informs Keith.

“We have a map of the colony and have marked the critical points. We’ll send it to you. Try to take advantage of the sentries surrounding the rebel fleet, land strategically” recommends Shiro. The leader stayed back in Ireti with Matt and Coran to monitor the operation from distance. If he is bothered by it, he doesn’t show it all, as expected.

“Roger that,” answers Keith, running through long halls, hearing Lance’s agitated breathing by his side through the comm. He chooses not to ask how he’s feeling now.

They nod at each other when they separate to enter their respective Lions, and as they set course to the colony below, Lance finally speaks.

“Who would do this and why? The Galra are behaving, except for their crazy-ass Emperor,” he bitterly comments. Keith considers his answer.

“Maybe someone who still holds a grudge. It’s too soon to forgive them.”

“But revenge on miner colonies? Lame,” mumbles Lance. He clicks his tongue. “Besides, this happens just after Lotor disappears? And on a colony Sendak attacked before? I don’t know man, it smells fishy.”

“Yeah, I guess it does. But for now, let’s concentrate on saving the people,” says Keith, frowning. Certainly, the mystery of this anonymous attack is enough to worry them, but their priority is rescuing the Galra and help them relocate. Lance agrees, but after a short silence, he dares to ask:

“Do you think the Commander’s wife could be… you know?”

“I don’t know,” replies Keith. The mumbled plea of the Commander still resounds in his ears. “I hope not.”

Lance doesn’t say anything else.

 

* * *

 

Following Shiro’s instructions, they set their course to land at a certain distance of the rebel fleet. The Lions scan the targets and shoot hostiles, whom quickly turn their attention to them. The rebels move to crush them between their fire and the paladin’s shots, ensuing a chaotic, but short battle.

Lance and Keith descend from their Lions and cross the dust and smoke to reunite with rebel forces. The leader, a grumpy Unilu called Saraked, approaches them followed by Krolia.

“Finally! We’ve been here doing nothing but serve as target practice to these _kkritikat_ robots!” barks the leader.

“Well now you can move, so move,” growls back Keith, earning a scoff from the alien.

“The Galra from this colony have their own transports ready, but they had to close their gates. We have to clear a path for them to depart, if they still can,” says Krolia.

“Then let’s split. We have to hurry, there’s only three varga or so before the next radiation storm,” warns them Keith, and the rebel forces spread.

The next hour is dedicated to aid the trapped people on the ships. They seem to be less than what they expected, which explains the destruction. There’s at least three times more robots than people in the planet.

The paladins lead the attack against the sentries inside the central complex of the colony, a tall structure with classic Galra maze-like corridors that lead to a covered airport. The people had trusted that the way would be clear and ended up trapped, the doors closed and ships under heavy fire. 

The battle is, again, short but intense. The Galra higher ranks who possess weapons back up the rebel crew that scatters through the place, making a mess of metallic pieces and dust until the place is secured.

Keith is starting to feel the weight of this much fighting and just when he wonders if Lance is doing fine, he sees the red paladin approaching the highest rank officer he can find between the Galra people.

“Do you know if officer Ruvza is here too?” he hears Lance ask. Interested, he gets closer.

“Officer Ruvza? Who do you think you are—”

“DUDE!” insists Lance. The young Galra blinks confused and flushed.

“Officer Ruvza coordinated the order in which the groups would evacuate. She stayed behind with a few other officers who would leave last.”

“But she’s a pregnant lady!” exclaims Lance.

“She said it was her duty as the Commander’s wife. She would not allow us to escort her,” mutters the Galra.

 _Tough lady_ , thinks Keith. It’s hard not to think of his own mother, he can totally see Krolia doing the same. Maybe that’s why he feels compelled to intervene too.

“Do you know where she could be?”

“I don’t know. She may be on her post, on the top of this same building, or…” the Galra blinks as if an idea occurred to him, “maybe she’s at our medical facility?”

“Where’s that?” asks Lance, but he’s interrupted by the sound of the first ships departing and their comms beeping. Pidge’s voice rings in their ears.

“Guys, the shield will hold for exactly two more vargas, we only managed to extend the time like, half an hour. No time to waste, we’re going down to help!”

“Did you secure the station?” asks Keith.

“Don’t worry, we secured the place. How is the evacuation going?” asks Allura.

“It’s…” Keith looks around. Battered ships and wounded Galra and rebels, people looking for their families, soldiers shouting orders around. “A mess. But the first ships started launching, we’re gonna check for stragglers now.”

“Alright, we’ll be down there soon too!” says Hunk.

That will make everything easier. Keith is considering what to do next and his eyes land on Lance, who is hunching a little and catching his breath.

“Are you okay? You could go back to Red—”

“No way, dude. I’m fine, don’t worry,” he says, straightening his back.

“Don’t push yourself. You can stay here to help,” proposes Keith, but Lance looks at him indignant.

“And let you steal the spotlight? No way!” Keith frowns, but Lance changes his expression and snorts. “Just kiddin’, man. Nah, we’re together in this, aren’t we? Besides… I really want to find this lady. I mean, it was the commander’s last wish, if we don’t it’d feel terrible.”

 _Together in this_. Yes, they are, since the moment Keith said ‘you’re with me’. Smirking, Keith puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder, surprising him.

“Then let’s go. We don’t have much time,” he says, heading to the exit. Lance, astonished, hesitates two seconds before following Keith.

They are informed that the central building has been evacuated, but still no signs of Ruvza. They decide to head out and look at the map Shiro and Matt sent them. The colony is like a huge, metallic district, but they know most of the structures are already empty, the rebels marking on the map the places they scout and confirm empty. Remembering the Galra officer’s words, they look for the medical facility and find that it’s on one of the farthest pointy buildings and is still not visited. To get there, they’d have to cross the esplanade in the center of the colony, with little to no cover. They look at each other and, at the same time, nod. Readying their shields, they run crossing what resembles a central square.

Shoulder on shoulder, they defend each other from stranded shots and occasional sentries dumb enough to seek them. They cross words with rebels on the way and watch how the remaining Lions land in the middle of the square after they have passed it. They make frantic gestures to their friends to show their ubication and keep running, until they finally reach the facility, both tired and sweaty. The building looks tall from the outside, but seems to be just one big, round hall with many doors, full of machinery and ominous pipes illuminated, as always, by the damn purple lights.

“Lovely,” mumbles Lance, looking around.

“Okay… where should we begin…” ponders Keith, gasping and grunting.

“It’s not such a big place, let’s check if there’s any people here,” says Lance, trying to catch his breath too.

“Right. She’s a communications officer, anyway, so maybe she came to—” manages to say Keith, but a loud groan startles them. It seems to come from one of the multiple doors around them in the circular, dark hall. They just stand there for a few seconds.

"You first,” offers Lance, pointing ahead. Keith scowls at him, but he walks until he reaches the door that slides open and then the shock stuns him momentarily.

One of his visions is right in front of his eyes. In the corner of a dark room, a woman is weeping and gasping. A Galra woman in a flight suit, half covering herself in some kind of blanket. Keith saw her in the Quantum Abyss and had almost forgotten how terrifying this vision was.

“Officer Ruvza?!” asks Lance, walking ahead past Keith.

“Wh-who are you—” Ruvza’s sharp eyes check their armors and her features harden. “…Voltron.”

“Yes, we’re paladins and are helping evacuate your people. What are you doing here?” asks Lance.

“I came to— uuungh—” she spasms and grunts. Her short purple hair is disheveled and her face is wet, her pronounced fangs biting right into her thick lips. She gasps and keeps talking. “I came to make sure the medical facility had been evacuated.”

“The place is empty, let’s head out,” says Keith, finally convincing his feet to move forward, but Ruvza shakes her head.

“I c-can’t.”

“Ma’am, we have to leave, we have like one varga and half to leave before the next radiation storm hits us,” Lance tries to explain. Keith tries to scold him with his eyes. Ruvza shouldn’t know certain things yet.

“What? W-what about the shield… What about Bogh— uuuungh!” she is having trouble controlling her body even sitting there and, suddenly, Keith has an awful realization.

“Hey, could it be you’re--”

“My son. My son has bad timing,” she grumbles, trying to stand up by herself. Lance helps her with shaky hands, looking at Keith.

“W-what do we do, man? We have to carry her…”

“Nonsense. I decided to stay here and deliver my son by myself. L-leave at… uuuungh! AT ONCE!” she shouts, kicking Lance involuntarily as he tries to lift her.

“Are you nuts?! There’s no time for that!” argues Lance.

“There’s more than enough time! Just help me reach the central table and leave!” she yells. Keith frowns.

“No way. You have to hold it and let us carry you to the ships. We’ll see if—”

“HOLD IT? We can’t h-hold… Aaaanngh! WE CAN’T JUST HOLD IT, FOOL! HE’S COMING AND IF I’M NOT IN THAT TABLE IN THREE TICKS I’M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR IT!”

The fury of the woman is so genuine that it terrifies two almighty defenders of the universe enough to pick her up without protesting. The tall Galra is heavy and when they lift her the blanket falls, revealing a pronounced belly. The boys shiver at the sight.

“Oh my god, how do Galra even give birth?!” asks Lance.

“Are you asking _me_?!” yells Keith, and Lance winces, carrying the woman to the next room.

“Well, you’re the only half-Galra around here! Excuuuuse me for asking!”

“The only Galra birth I’ve been present is MINE, for fucks sake!” cries Keith.

“Shut up! Just sh-shut up and help me get my back straight!” commands them Ruvza. They obey, but the exchange reminded Keith that there’s someone else around who was present at his birth. He raises a trembling hand to his comm.

“Krolia? Where are you?” he asks. He was never before so relieved to hear a voice over the comm.

“I’m at the cargo bay, the last group came around and we had to—”

“Krolia, we need you at the medical facility right now,” interrupts her Keith, and Ruvza lets out another grunt that resembles more a scream, making him flinch. “We have a problem here!”

“What’s going on?” asks Krolia, worried.

“Listen, you have to come, we have a—” another scream, they are more a more often and he is starting to flip— “Mom! Just come, PLEASE!”

It’s the name that Keith unconsciously blurts in panic what shocks Krolia, probably. She doesn’t ask any more questions, just mumbles a “roger” and, hopefully, heads their way. They are near the table already and carefully drop Ruvza there, Lance asking Pidge how much time they have.

“We only have one varga and a bit, I don’t know if we’ll make it,” says Lance, looking at the woman with desperation.

“Y-you can leave. Let me be!” yells the stubborn woman.

“Ruvza, we can’t leave you here! You have to—”

“Bogh… If Bogh stayed, I’ll stay too…” her voice breaks and she closes her eyes shut. Her face contorts, holding a sob and leaving the paladins speechless. She had understood what the fall of the shield meant and Lance looks at Keith with guilty eyes.

The woman squirms in pain and gasps for air. After a few eternal seconds she controls herself to bark them more orders.

“Fine! If you’ll stay here like two dumb _vrefers_ , do something useful! Activate the console!” she commands, pointing at a square screen on the side of the table. They stumble to reach it and look at it.

“I t-think it’s number three,” she mumbles, breathing in short inhalations and exhalations.

“Which one is number three?!” asks Lance in a panicky whisper while Keith presses what he hopes is said number. The table starts moving, transforming into a closed structure that covers her lower half and lights inside. They freeze. Were they really going to receive a baby? A GALRA baby? Ruvza cuts their panicked ruminations, trying to kick them out.

“Now get out of here!” she exclaims.

“Wait, Ruvza. You don’t have to do this alone! There’s help coming. A Galra woman,” says Keith, reluctant to leave Ruvza by herself there. It’s just such a cold, awful room and the situation is so desperate, that it doesn’t feel right to just… leave her.

“I can’t wait,” says Ruvza, gritting her teeth with a mix of pain and hate.

“Just hold a bit. Just a bit, okay?” says Lance, kneeling by the side of the table and trying to smile at her, though Keith notices how his hands holding the metallic border are shaking. “Let’s wait, okay? I know— I know it hurts…”

Ruvza shots him a hateful look, but she blows air trying to calm herself. Lance keeps the uplifting tone.

“That’s right. Breathe in” he mimics inhaling deeply. “And out.” He fakes exhaling.

She obeys and Lance keeps encouraging her.

“That’s good. In and out. What do you do around here, ma’am? Keep breathing…”

“I am the— officer in charge of communications. Not that it matters when the Empire isn’t answering our… our… uuuuungh, OUR CALLS!” she yells. She lifts a hand to her face and clenches her fist.

“I see. You’re doing great! Let’s keep at it…”

Keith watches this exchange with amazed eyes. Ruvza is less aggressive and breathing just as instructed, picking the rhythm of her own aches. At one point, the red paladin offers his hand and the pain makes the Galra woman clench it with so much force that he winces. And just then, Krolia announces her arrival at the building, asking Keith for his location.

When the Blade enters the room, she just stands there for a few seconds before she can grasp the crazy image in front of her. She quickly regains her composure.

“We are running out of time! Go bring your Lions, I don’t know if we’ll make it on time otherwise!” she orders them. Lance looks at Ruvza, who lets go of his hand.

“Good luck, ma’am! You’ve got this!” he cheers her.

“Shut up and get out,” mumbles Ruvza, but her lips tremble and she closes her eyes.

The paladins do as told, exiting the facility, but Lance makes a small pause outside to bend and grab his knees, sighing.

“Dude, we’ve done crazy shit. We ride giant, sentient Lions and travel through wormholes like it’s normal. But, delivering a baby? A _space_ baby? I was NOT ready.”

“You were doing great there. I’m… actually impressed,” confesses Keith, a bit ashamed at his own uselessness. Lance raises his head and even through his helmet, Keith can notice how his face is red. He averts his eyes, shy, and they start running again.

“It-it’s nothing,” Lance stutters, “it’s just… I was there when my older sister was about to have my niece. Don’t ever tell her, but… she was _way_ worse.”

Keith laughs out loud. His nerves are pretty much wrecked after what they saw there and he is thankful to whatever deity is responsible of putting Krolia and Lance with him there. His mother was saving the day, and Lance? Lance is probably the only member of the team who would have managed the situation so well. Keith has serious doubts that even Shiro could reassure a furious, pregnant Galra woman in such pain.

“Let’s hope everything goes well. We’ll have to leave no matter what in around fourty minutes,” says Keith. They hurry even more.

From the Lions they quickly explain their bizarre situation to an astonished team.

“Guys, the next radiation storm is close, will you make it?” asks Pidge.

“We will, just evacuate the rest of the colony and don’t wait for us!” answers Keith.

“ _Quiznak_ , guys, that’s crazy!” says Hunk. After a pause, he mutters: “The soldiers on the station retrieved the… fallen. In case she… you know.”

“Alright,” says Keith, feeling a pinch of guilt.

If only they made it on time, maybe Bogh could have survived, and that realization hurts so much. The team must notice, because Allura speaks on their behalf.

“Keith, Lance. Don’t dwell on it. The Galra live like this.  _Victory or death_. They never regret anything,” she says in a reassuring tone that, somehow, helps a bit. At least now they can understand why Commander Bogh was able to throw his Galra pride to one side so easily. He had more important things to protect, after all. It sure puts the Galra under a new light.

The two paladins fly their Lions and land right in front of the facility, without paying much attention to their surroundings. They hurriedly descend from them and enter again, but the door is still closed. They don’t dare to open it and just wait outside.

Keith rests his back on the wall and crosses his arms while Lance slides to the floor, exhausted. After being quiet for a while, the red paladin breaks the silence.

“To think this colony is going to disappear. We tried so hard to fix the damn shield for nothing,” he says.

“Oh, right. You were here before,” recalls Keith and Lance nods with his eyes closed. The black paladin gazes at him and then fixes his eyes in the door. “I heard you were in trouble here. Something about you almost dying…?”

Lance opens his eyes abruptly.

“ _Dying_?! Are you trying to get rid of me early or something?”

“That’s just what I heard,” says Keith, still watching the door.

A pause and a sigh.

“I don’t know about ‘dying’, but the guys seem to think it’s a big deal now. They all came to see me while I was sick with some ridiculous apologies for not paying attention to it before.” He plays with his bayard in his hands, nervous. “I just know I passed out and Allura was there when I woke up. It didn’t even feel bad, they didn’t need to worry anyway. Don’t know what got into them.”

Keith turns his head towards Lance and finds the paladin showing a sad smile. They just look at each other for a while, Keith remembering again that terrible night on Lance’s room, his feverish declarations of how unhappy and lonely he felt. What was really behind that smile, then?

Lance is uncomfortable with Keith’s insistent gaze on him, so he cracks a joke.

“Well I sure hope that’s not real death, ‘cause in that case it’s hella boring. I’d be so disappointed. No parade? No cute angels?”

Keith chuckles.

“Let’s hope not,” he agrees.

They stay silent after that, until Krolia contacts them through the comm.

“It’s done. I need help to get them out of here.”

The paladins cross the door anxious and they are met by Krolia, Ruvza now covered in the same blanket as before and strident shrieks coming from the small creature resting on her chest.

Lance and Keith approach her and take a shy peek at the baby. The way he cries is even louder than a human baby, but he is surprisingly just as tiny as a normal newborn. Except for the fact this one is purple and squishy.

“Oh my god, were you purple when you were born too?” mutters Lance to Keith. Then he opens his eyes wide. “Wait, were you born with the mullet?!”

“No!” grunts Keith, blushing. He’d rather die than admit that, in fact, he was.

“I bet you were! Hah, and I bet you—” Lance interrupts himself after noticing Krolia’s eyes on him. He gulps and timidly proceeds to push an open sort of pod to put Ruvza there and carry her outside.

They have to hurry. They have minutes before the next radiation storm hits and all ships have already left the colony. Just when they are about to separate to enter their respective lions, the paladins hear a weak “thank you” coming from the open pod. They look at Ruvza, with her eyes closed and her son finally quiet in her chest.  They exchange a satisfied smile before leaving.

The shield resists most of the storm when it hits, but at last minute runs out of energy and cracks, letting the deadly radiation reach the colony below. From afar, the paladins see the sad and destructive result of the mysterious attack that no one could still understand.

 

* * *

 

Keith and Lance wait outside the medbay, nervous.

Yesterday, they had brought Ruvza to Ireti without considering the risks of bringing a Galra officer to a rebel base. Now, after meetings, sleeping and more meetings, they had been summoned to speak with her, once Krolia finishes talking to her in private.

The door slides open and she finds the two paladins standing right outside. She subtly smiles at their worried faces.

“She’s waiting,” says Krolia, passing between them and patting their shoulders on the way.

They look at each other. Keith jerks his head to make them move and Lance nods.

Ruvza is resting in a bed near a window. She has her son on her arms and a neutral expression while she watches the paladins approach the bed. They sit by her bedside.

“I’ve been informed that bringing me here has caused trouble to you,” she says. She’s just stating a fact, not apologizing.

“Well, it’s not like we had any other option. You needed assistance,” Lance shrugs. Ruvza looks at her child. She looks much more relaxed today than the day before, but her eyes are sad.

“The Empire doesn’t forgive weakness and disloyalty. Bogh’s actions and my own may be considered both. And being taken prisoner is the biggest shame for an officer.”

“You are not a prisoner and we are not enemies anymore,” points Keith.

“It might be so. But I have been warned that the Coalition may not let me leave anyway, fearing I might reveal the location of one of their main bases,” Ruvza explains.

“Wha—!”

“However,” continues the Galra, impassive, “I can’t consider myself a prisoner if I willingly stay.”

The paladins look at her with raised eyebrows. Ruvza faces them again.

“We don’t know who did this, but I know for sure it couldn’t be the Coalition, nor Voltron. And I am not going back to serve an Empire that abandons their people and allows them to lose everything. I was the one who called for help, I know the way they disregarded our pleas… And my son won’t be raised in a place where his father is shamed for doing what’s right under such circumstances.”

Keith feels his chest tight. It’s so hard not to see himself and his mother in these two. Trying to keep a neutral face, he asks:

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I have offered my services to your people. I asked Krolia, and now I wait for a response.”

“They will accept! There’s no way they’d just expel you,” assures Lance.

“This is a military base, and we are two people,” she says, caressing her son. The baby moves at the touch and Keith can almost see Lance’s eyes melting from his face.

 _Cute._ The baby, that is. He coughs.

“The rebels aren’t really a military force. I’ve heard about them having children around sometimes, I bet they won’t have any problem with letting both of you stay,” says Keith.

“We’ll see. After all, we are Galra, too.”

At that, they don’t really have an answer. Many rebels could be uncomfortable having Galra around, even though they work together with the Blades.

“But, speaking of Galra. We have a few traditions regarding our children,” Ruvza adds, making a smug face. “When you have friends in the high ranks, you ask them to take you child as a protegee, a nexus. It’s an old tradition where… well, you try to guarantee that your child will go far in the hierarchy. Just symbolic now, of course, but the tradition remains.”

Both paladins tilt their heads, wondering what does that mean.

“You wish for your children to get as far as possible and hand them gladly to the Empire, but that’s not what I want for mine. I want him to be someone who does the right things for the right reasons.” She smiles at her baby. And then looks at Lance and Keith. “I wonder if you would be willing to be my son’s nexus.”

Keith and Lance look at each other, perplexed. Lance is blushing and stuttering.

“W-what would we have to do?”

“Nothing,” declares Ruvza, “as I said, it’s symbolic. You just— you just have to keep being yourselves, and I will tell my son stories about how his nexus are the two paladins of Voltron who saved his life and mine, and kept doing what they consider just.”

It’s her own stiff way of saying thanks. Lance turns his head towards Keith, smiling. But then his smile wavers a bit, as he looks back at the small newborn.

“So, like, a godfather, huh. And godfathers should visit their godsons…”

“Ideal, but not required,” says Ruvza, in her practical tone. She raises her eyes at Keith, questioningly. He smiles at the small creature.

“Sure,” he answers. Lance side-glances at him, but smiles wide too, spreading his arms.

“Of course, we are honored to accept! So, does our godson have a name?”

“He was going to be named after our Emperor. I guess he doesn’t have a name now,” mumbles Ruvza, bitterly.

“And his f—?”

“No.” Ruvza cradles the child when he wakes up in her arms. “Bad omen. We don’t name our children after someone who met a violent death.”

Her sadness is evident. Keith truly wishes the best for this woman and her small child, more now that he became his godfather… whatever that means. Didn’t godfathers name the children or something? He blinks twice. He has a name. Or almost had a name.

“How… how about Yorak?” he proposes. Lance raises an eyebrow at him, while Ruvza considers it.

“Very old-fashioned name,” Keith feels like she gave him a jab, “but powerful. _Unburnt_. Yes… I like it.”

She smiles at her son while whispering “Yorak”, and plants a kiss on his forehead. Keith looks at one side. After what he saw in the Quantum Abyss this is a bit too much for him, and he would like to leave. To his surprise, Lance stands up first.

“Just one more thing, then. We gotta commemorate this with… a pic!”

He takes his loyal orange device from a pocket and passes it to Keith, asking Ruvza if he can carry the boy.

Purple baby in his arms, he talks to Keith.

“Alright, come here and take one of the three of us!”

“Wha— No. I’ll take you one, stand there,” grunts Keith.

“He’s your godson too!”

“Shut up and don’t drop him.”

The bickering only stops when the baby starts crying and Lance panics enough to make Keith laugh and forget the argument. They don’t want Ruvza to regret her decision so soon.

“At least you took a decent one between the other awful fourteen,” sneers Lance while they walk through the corridor, after saying goodbye to little Yorak and his mother.

“Yeah, yeah…” says Keith, but stops when Lance suddenly stays behind. The red paladin stopped in front one of the round windows.

“So. We’re leaving this place to keep traveling home,” he says.

“Yeah. We can’t keep delaying the journey,” confirms Keith. Lance sighs.

“That means we won’t see little Yorak in a while, huh?”

Keith steps closer to Lance to look out the same window. He knows what must be in Lance’s mind.

“Yes. It’ll be hard to come back for a while _._ If we come back.”

By we Keith doesn’t mean Voltron, and Lance knows it. The red paladin lets out a chocked, fake laughter.

“That was unexpected, but there’s no way to say no. Too bad for poor Yorak, I don’t think he’ll like to know his nexus is a quitter. _Quiznak_ …”

“Listen, Lance. It’s not about being a quitter, it’s about choosing,” tries to say Keith, but Lance shakes his head.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I can’t help thinking about how many Yoraks are out there that you’ll get to help, while I— I just…” he scratches his head, sighing again.

 _Then don’t leave_ , wants to say Keith, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t, because no matter what he thinks, it’s not his call, and he summons all his newly discovered patience and self-control to not be rude about it. However, putting a hand on the edge of the window, he bends his arm to get closer to Lance, who turns his worried eyes towards him.

“You have a while to decide, if you really have to.”

Lance’s shoulders drop. Keith knows that Lance counts on being replaced as the red paladin later, and he feels compelled to keep talking.

“I expect you to consider what we’ve done here, though. You did great yesterday. And this?” he points to the medbay, “you made the difference this time. If that’s not enough… Well, now you also have Yorak to add to the list.”

Lance’s big eyes are moving rapidly between his and the intensity of the quiet stare makes both boys blush. Lance covers his mouth while looking the other way and Keith puts now both hands on the crystal to look down, ashamed at his own words.

“Damn it, dude, who are you and what did you do with the real Keith Kogane?” mumbles Lance. Keith feels a weird tickle around his abdomen at the mention of his own name. Ignoring it, he defends himself by taunting him.

“I’m just cooler and grizzled. That’s all.”

“Dude. I’m trying to be serious here, COME-ON. Will you let it go already?!”

“No.”

Lance faces him, still flushed and with his hands on the pockets of his jacket.

“You know what? I don’t care. You still have the mullet, so… still no respect. Invalid. Bye!”

He turns around, outragedly stomping away. However, he stops halfway and Keith hears him clearly say two words.

“Thanks, pal.”

Keith stays there long after Lance has reached the corner and left. After all of the crazy events that occurred during their stay in Ireti, he feels like he has a lot to think about, but… everything takes him back to the one, big question.

Why does he care so much if Lance stays or not?

They always argued over the pettiest things, but Lance was also the first person of the team who tried to reach to him, even if it was out of mere spite. In a warped way, he was his first… friend. The visions in the Quantum Abyss helped him realize that, but he never wanted to consider it much more. It wasn’t worth it, after Lance had denied their bonding moment. Yeah, he had been so close then to... well… that’s not important, buried and forgotten.

But back to the present and after this one, crazy mission. He wants Lance to stay because he is a teammate and a friend to all of them. He didn’t have many expectations, but Lance proved to be a guy who against all odds could watch his back, the second-best fighter of the current team, a strong soldier, a good pilot, and overall a good person. He would never forgive the way he helped Ruvza down in the colony.

_You’ve got a soft spot for pitiful creatures._

Oh, how wrong they had been, because after what he has seen, it’s definitely _not_ pity. The feverish Lance, the sad Lance was the same Lance who held a sword and fought neck and neck with him, the same who held a pained woman’s hand and flew with him away from a radiation storm. The red paladin had many faces, and none of them should be looked down upon.

Besides, no one asked him to meddle, no one asked him to do something about it either, not even Lance himself, who just confided his worries in a moment of vulnerability and unconsciousness. Keith clenches his teeth, met by an awful realization.

 _He_ chose to meddle because _he_ prefers for Lance to stay. _He_ fears the moment when they say goodbye. _He_ proposed himself to give him reasons to stay around.

It’s not pity and it only took him five days and one mission to realize. The long road ahead looks suddenly scary and uncertain. Truly dangerous… at least for his own, unsettled feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Bogh, I'm really sorry about that. And that's why I named the wolf Cosmo... we needed the name Yorak for little Galra godson! He'll be mentioned later again. As the first reason, little Yorak represents the many good things that Lance can do as a paladin. Keith truly understands now the potential of Lance as a partner (read that however you wish).
> 
> It took me a while to finish this one and I hope it lived to your expectations. Goofy camping chapter is next! In fact, you can expect chapter 3 by saturday at most! (edit: sorry, IRL attacked). If I take longer than that, you have been just granted a free coupon to leave one (1) mean anon in my [Tumblr](http://www.silverineontherun.tumblr.com). Also remember we still have 4 chapters to go, in case you feel I left things out in this. All your impressions are appreciated beyond words!! 
> 
> Thanks a bunch for reading! <3


	3. Reason #2: We had a(nother) bonding moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiding from the Galra, the team decides to improvise a camping and have a good time.  
> ... Too bad they fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Involuntary inhalation of psychotropic smoke due to bad alien plant combustion (= they get kinda high). If you are uncomfortable, you can read until the first cut and then after the last. Also, more cursing than usual. Will be back to normal polite language next chapter.
> 
> This chapter was inspired [by this gorgeous post!](http://conisaura.tumblr.com/post/176004127568/bunjywunjy-isnerdy-memcjo), particularly the Bolivian salt flats. And also a lot of stress lol.  
> 

  _"But I-I would walk five hundred miles…”_

“That’s a lot to walk…”

_“And I-I would walk five hundred more…”_

“That’s it, I’m turning it off—!”

_“JUST TO BE THE MAN WHO WALKED A THOUSAND MILES TO FALL DOWN AT YOUR DOOR!”_

“Just how cliché and cheesy can you get!” yells Pidge.

“DA da da DA!” Lance proves he can yell louder.

“DA DA DA DA!” complements him Hunk, and the rest of the crew is torn between grumbling and laughing at this ridiculous performance of such an old song. They finish the chorus and then stop, wondering about the rest of the lyrics.

“Geez, finally,” mumbles Pidge.

“You’re lucky we just remember the first part,” says Lance, “but once we get home you’re getting the full version, courtesy of _moi._ ”

“I’d rather go deaf than hear this awful, one hundred years old bunch of shrieks again.”

“It’s a classic, you blasphemous gremlin,” growls Lance.

After six songs acapella, some of them unknown to him, Keith is seriously considering turning off the communications panel too. But he takes a peek at his side and Lance’s face is there, along with the rest of the crew, looking smug and relaxed, and his finger traveling towards the screen just stops and slowly goes back to where it was.

Behind him, Krolia hums.

“What?” asks Keith.

“Nothing,” she says, Cosmo laying bored on her legs, “just thinking you were right about the team being really noisy, after all.”

“Hey!” protests Lance.

“The comm is turned on, Krolia, thank you,” mumbles Keith, while the rest of the crew starts complaining or agreeing about her comment at the same time. Krolia just chuckles, mischievous.

“Well, no matter the ruckus inside the Lions, as long as we don’t blow our carefully planned cover,” reminds them Coran, in a dramatic tone.

“Bet the Galra radars can detect the screeches coming from these two from their Central Command, though,” comments Pidge. Behind her, Matt Holt and Shiro laugh.

“Excuse you, Hunk and I are _performers_.”

 _As in clowns,_ thinks Keith with irritation, but doesn’t say it.

At least it’s an improvement to have Lance talking and laughing again, back to his old, vocal self. After the events of Ireti and the Station, he seems to be at peace with whatever decision he has made, and Keith hasn’t asked anything about it again. He wants to believe that, in case Lance needs to talk to him, this time he’ll go by his own volition, and so Keith has kept his secret until now, after two weeks of traveling and carefully trying to take it less seriously and personal, for... safety reasons.

They had said goodbye to the rebel crew in Ireti and their new Galra protegee, Yorak. Matt Holt did them the favor of guaranteeing the stay of Ruvza and the baby, by sweet talking the superiors and giving her his own position there. As an expert communications officer, Ruvza took his place and in exchange, she gave them a lot of useful intel about Galra systems and ways to improve their own. Even so, the rebels weren’t truly convinced about this arrangement until little Yorak made a surprise tour around the place in Lance’s arms their last day. Keith could verify through the coos and faces of the crew that no matter the species, babies seem to be the weak spot of every civilization of the universe. And also, he had to recognize he admired the ability of Lance to handle such a small creature with ease. He hadn’t been able to hold him even once, out of fear of.... breaking him or something. But Lance made it look so easy, making him smile against his own will at the image of the small Galra cub squirming in his arms. Every time he remembered that, he felt this ridiculous impulse to scratch his head and stomach, somehow souring his mood for no valid reason.

However, they had urgent matters to attend. The attack and new intel from the Blade of Marmora and other rebel bases were worrying enough. Similar incidents to the one on Omega Shield Station had been registered on many Galra colonies, in what had to be an attempt to instigate fear inside the broken Empire. Together with the official announcement that the Emperor had disappeared, the Coalition prepared for the worst, ready for the accusations of betrayal, but instead, the Galra remained surprisingly silent. No doubt Voltron would be blamed by those who were against Lotor’s political standing, but the rumors of a new Kral Zera were everywhere and the fight between factions seemed to be transforming this into a civil war where, unlike last time, no sly heir would be there to outsmart them.

And the worst: there was only one fleet no one had sighted yet. Sendak and his Fire of Purification hadn’t made a public appearance yet, which was unnerving enough.

The result of this new inside conflict could affect the entire universe again, and as a precaution, Voltron team decided to travel in secret, tracing a plan consistent on many stops until they reach Olkari, trying to not be spotted by any Galra scout or fleet on the way. The Galra should not know that the Coalition has lost one of their most important assets in the war: The Castle. Without it, the Lions take longer to recharge, and they are unable to travel fast through wormholes. It makes them too vulnerable in case the Galra decided to go back to their old habits.

So, it’s been days and they have been stopping every other day at freed colonies, planets, and satellites. They can’t make much of a fuss, so they go and leave as soon as they can, which is hard when people try to consent them and make them stay longer. Sometimes, they have stopped in asteroids and deserted planets where they have a friendly enough atmosphere to rest, or good conditions to recharge the Lions. And after almost three weeks of this, of course they’re less and less patient around each other, thinks Keith, rubbing his eyes with irritation.

However, Allura suddenly interrupts the animated conversation.

“Wait a tick… Blue's sensors are picking signals,” she announces, and Pidge also looks at her own radars. The team makes a preventive halt.

“You're right, Galra ships ahead. But this is weird,” she looks even closer while trying to scan a larger perimeter, “the way they move is strange…”

“It’s because they are three fleets,” intervenes Matt, looking over his sister’s shoulder. “Look… there, there, and there.”

“True,” agrees Shiro, looking over Pidge’s other shoulder, “and they are attacking each other in three clusters. It’s a fight.”

“Aw c’mon, they’re right in the middle of our route!”

“Dang, why did they have to block the way? We chose this belt ‘cause _someone_ said ‘if it’s narrow it’s safe’, whatever that means,’” complains Hunk, in a mocking tone.

“But it is!” defends himself Coran, who had the idea to travel through a tricky belt of space debris, “it is not like we could predict this fight anyway!”

“It doesn’t matter,” interrupts Keith, measuring their chances, “we gotta stay away from their radars. You think they already saw us?”

“I don’t think so, but we have to move. It’s three times the danger with them out there,” answers Pidge.

They are too far to go back and too low on energy to confront them or surround them. In a hurry, they scan the current system for the closest place to make an emergency stop.

“There’s a planet solid that looks suitable for recharging nearby, we just have to backtrack a bit,” announces Pidge.

“Then let’s go. We have to lay low and wait for them to leave the system,” says Keith.

They set course to the designed place and fly out of their route, hoping to have retreated on time. After a while, they finally reach their destination and Keith notices that, even from so far away, the planet looks greener and more vibrant than any they’ve seen in a while.

“Woah. It looks a bit like Earth,” says Lance.

“And Altea,” mumbles Allura.

The planet is small in terms of other celestial bodies, but it’s solid and doesn’t look like it could kill them while landing, which is more than enough for them, for now. As they get closer, the info the Lions start collecting is making it even better: three inoffensive satellites, no radiation storms, the place is surrounded by a good protective ion layer and, under it, oxygen and carbon-based organisms thrive. That means possible clean air and the perspective of taking off their helmets outside for a while improves everyone’s spirits.

They land and, much to their delight, the place is as beautiful as it promised from far away. Chains and chains of soft rainbow-colored hills raise everywhere in complicated patterns until they are lost in the horizon. The soil is soft and thin dust raises from it under their steps, creating glittery patterns around their knees and disappearing. Tall and dense foliage of various colors fills the gaps between hills, leaving a small clear around their landing spot, green prevailing over the rest of the hues, making the paladins feel closer to home at the mere sight. To top it all, the planet is dusted in weak sunset light, as if they landed during the last hours of the day when the horizon is orange and the sky starry. A quick calculation from Pidge informs them they will have this light for days. The planet is reaching full night time in a week or so. Rising their eyes, the sight over them leaves them breathless.

In the dark sky three moons are visible, one huge and the other two smaller, all pale, gaseous and surrounded by cosmic dust in the form of thin rings, like veils. Behind them, the rest of the universe seems to be there just to decorate this majestic view.

It’s been so long since they found such a gorgeous place that, even under these circumstances, they take a few minutes to appreciate the view.

“Man… honestly, this makes the trip worth it…” sighs Hunk, breaking the silence.

Keith looks at Shiro, who is chuckling with fond eyes at the sky.

“This is the kind of thing you dream when you enroll in the Garrison, don’t you think?” he says.

“Definitely,” answers Matt, his face radiating enthusiasm while his sister hugs him on the side. Both Holts show the same spellbound expression.

The rest of the people hum in approval too. After all, all Garrison kids were space fans at some point in their lives. At least the guys were, Keith thinks. He never was that much of a dreamer before meeting Shiro… reality was a bit too harsh to let him dream about places like this. Turning his head to the other side, he quietly watches Lance. His eyes are still on the sky and the moons reflect on them. His expression is surprisingly neutral, though, and he doesn’t say anything until a small smile curves his lips and he grabs his beloved orange device to take a picture.

He has been doing that for a while. Since Ireti, in every colony and planet they stop, with any people they meet and on every break they can take, he snaps a few pics just like he did with Yorak. He also tries to take some of the team from time to time. Keith caught him trying to take a few of him, but he always opposed. Lance would reluctantly comply while mocking him for being too shy, but Keith has his reasons to not approve of this new hobby.

“Well, the levels of oxygen are optimal, gravity is suitable for us and I don’t detect any toxins in the air,” says Allura, checking the stats on her helmet. She turns to the rest of the crew, smiling. “Should we take a rest here? The Lions need to recharge anyway.”

Everyone happily agrees. Taking off their helmets, they breathe and notice that the air smells like a weird mix of salt and something musky, a bit too strong to be agreeable, but comfortable enough to keep their helmets off.

“Man, this is giving me serious school trip vibes,” comments Lance out loud. Pidge and Hunk laugh.

“Yeah, no kidding, it just screams camping time,” says Hunk, nodding.

“What’s ‘camping time’?” asks Romelle, interested.

“Oh, you mean camping? It’s a human thing… a tradition, I’d say,” explains Hunk, “you know, you go outdoors away from civilization and find a nice enough place, like the woods or a lake, to uh, I don’t know, connect with nature? So, you sleep under the stars and you take with you just the bare minimum to survive for a while…”

“So, like… what we’ve been doing all this time,” says Romelle, raising an eyebrow. Hunk looks at her astonished.

“Well, now that you say it… yeah.”

“Nah, dude, c’mon! Camping is recreational. You bring all the food you can fit in a car and anything you can potentially cook in a bonfire, a good sleeping bag and the rest is all about… the _magic_ ,” says Lance, moving his hands dramatically.

“Magic?” asks Romelle, confused.

“The magic, yeah! It’s the atmosphere what matters. It’s not about surviving, it’s all about having fun with your friends. You eat, you sing, you do a little mischief here and there… And the best part… spooky stories by the fire,” Lance exhales dramatically. “Man, I sure miss those times.”

“I feel bad for the friends that had to hear you sing,” mocks him Pidge.

“Ha-ha. Joke’s on you, you’ll hear plenty more of that on the way,” answers Lance, bitterly.

Keith sighs. Camping is not a “tradition” nor an exciting prospect to him. It’s all about survival and he lived two years with Krolia like that, so he is a little over it already. He raises an eyebrow to his mother, who is away from the rest of the group, still looking at the sky. He wonders what’s on her mind at that moment until the conversation catches his attention again.

“It sounds exciting,” says Romelle, “can’t we try it?”

“Here? Now?” asks Hunk, looking around.

“You know… it’s not such a bad idea. We have supplies, how about we sleep outside instead of inside the Lions? We can make a fire and all,” says Lance, enthusiastically. He turns to Keith. “C’mon, what you say?”

“Well…” he sighs. At least the place is pretty, and the paladins look eager. Also sleeping outside Black doesn’t sound half bad. “I guess it’s fine? As long as there’s no surprise storms or something.”

Coran claps, brimming with enthusiasm.

“Oh, wonderful! I don’t mean to disrespect Blue, but sleeping inside the Lions is making my hindquarters—”

“Alright Coran, we get it.”

They even change clothes for the event, relieved to get rid of their armors. While Pidge and Matt concentrate on keeping an eye in any Galra signals installing their equipment outside Green, the rest of them scatter to improvise on something that looks similar to a human camping. While looking if there’s something that will be good to burn, Keith hears Allura and Lance analyzing the grass and taking Kaltenecker out of Blue to let her graze. They look content and are speaking animatedly, though Keith still feels that weird vibe, the excessive courtesy between them in the way they move and speak… he’s never been good at reading the atmosphere, though, so he just stands there, at a distance, looking at them laugh and pamper the cow, until a voice startles him.

“He’s looking better, isn’t he?”

Keith turns back violently and finds Hunk’s smile there.

“Oh. Uh, yeah.”

“I was worried. He looked so bad when he was sick. But he seems to be in high spirits again,” says Hunk, nodding satisfied. “It’s good to see that Allura is doing better too. Maybe those two really are meant to be. With Lotor out of the picture and all…”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith, raising an eyebrow and Hunk makes an embarrassed face.

“I-I mean, Lance has always… you know. Kinda… carried a torch for Allura? A-and he didn’t take too well the Lotor episode…”

“You said it was because you _teased_ him about it,” reminds him Keith, feeling irritated. Too irritated, in fact. He tries to cool down and stop making a fool of himself with that accusing tone. Hunk looks taken aback.

“Yeah, we kinda messed up? But it wasn’t on purpose, I swear. Lance has been my friend since we entered the Garrison. I-I never thought he’d be taking it so seriously. It’s so not like him…”

Keith sighs. He can’t tell Hunk that the reason why Lance had been reacting so bad is that he feels left out and worthless for the team without snitching him. Hunk would probably understand what that implies.

“He’s just homesick. Now that we’re heading home, he’ll feel better,” he says instead, trying to sound convincing. Hunk hums.

“You think? I think it’s more like… he probably felt a bit lonely. I can see why,” he confesses. _Nailed it,_ thinks Keith. Hunk had definitely been considering it, his eyes look guilty. However, the yellow paladin suddenly slaps Keith’s back and adds: “That’s why it’s so good to have you back!”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith, confused.

“Well, not gonna lie… Lance is a lot livelier with you around. Gee, I guess it’s not enough with us?”

“Uh…?”

“Yeah, yeah, the change has been notorious. Maybe he really needs to have his nemesis nearby to stay motivated or something. I don’t know. But you know the dude,” Hunk laughs, shaking his head and shrugging, “he’s been like this since forever. If it wasn’t for his _‘I’d recognize that mullet anywhere! I’m not letting Keith rescue him! Blah blah!’_ that day, maybe we wouldn’t even be here. Funny if you think about it…”

It’s typical Hunk talking more than he should, but even though it’s just an innocent comment, Keith feels petrified and he isn’t sure why. It’s nothing he _doesn’t_ know, but also… it’s weird hearing it from someone else.

Lance used to hate his guts, or at least that’s what he believed. Even though they barely knew each other, he was hostile from the beginning, always antagonizing him, and he never knew how to act around him. Whenever Lance provoked him, he’d take the bait every time for no reason. And what kind of relationship is that? What’s this nemesis nonsense? Was it still the case or things had changed?

Now that he’s back, he thinks it’s different. At least, _he_ , Keith, feels different. He doesn’t engage in bickering like before. He has a lot more things to worry about, and more people to care about now. But if his relationship with Lance is based on fighting and competing… what would that mean for them now that’s all behind them? What did Lance think of him? Why had he confessed his fear to him, then, of all people?

And _why_ , pray tell, is he so worried about this?

“Keith…?” Hunk is tilting his head trying to bring him back to reality, but then Lance shouts at them.

“Hey! What are you doing, slackers? C’mon Keith, aren’t you an expert on this?”

Keith scoffs. Both paladins go back to their chores, and Keith carefully avoids falling in deep thought again. No reason to overthink anything if, in the end, Lance had followed him into this crazy adventure out of spite and now would leave the same way.

 

* * *

 

Food is ready, the Galra are still at it but far away and all that’s left is lighting the bonfire. They aren’t fools, so they analyze the components. There is no proper wood around, but the plants are harmless and dry enough. Inside a low pit, they put a lot of colorful branches. And to ignite it, they pick a bunch of ugly, dry brown vines that climbed around the taller plants. They check them: no toxins, weird components but nothing poisonous. They throw them over the rest, thinking they’ll be a good catalyst.

They are wrong.

As soon as they light said vines, they are quickly consumed and reduced to pathetic black threads, while a strong salty smell surrounds them and makes them tear up.

“Is— Is this supposed to happen?” asks Hunk.

“I don’t know, what’s with the smoke?” coughs Pidge.

Keith is about to complain because the vines had been Matt’s idea, but then he notices how his tongue feels heavy. He turns around his head, too aware of the way his muscles bend. He blinks and coughs.

“Guys, let’s… let’s just put it off, this smoke is weird…”

“Yeah… let’s do that,” agrees Lance, grabbing the bottle by his side and throwing water over the pit, where a few timid reddish flames started dancing. But as soon as the water touches them, they rise into two monstrous tongues of fire that burn purple in the base and passionate red in the tip.

Everyone gasps and falls behind, with their heads spinning.

“Shit… put it off! Put it off!” shouts Keith, and between Shiro, Krolia, Keith and Coran they start kicking the ground and throw dirt into it. It extinguishes the flames, but the salty smell intensifies when the smoke becomes darker around them.

They cough and crawl farther from the failed bonfire, with their eyes stinging and crying. Among the smelly mist, Keith tries to check if everyone is fine.

“Guys, are you okay?” he asks, still coughing and rasping.

“Alive,” whimpers Hunk.

“Who the hell picked those damn vines?!” asks Lance.

“I did, but you all said they were harmless! Besides, YOU threw water to it!” Matt retorts, coughing too.

“And what else wasIsupposedto… supposed to…” Lance coughs again, but his blurting stops as if he can’t talk.

Keith crawls to the side and finds Shiro.

“Shiro, are you okay?”

He blinks twice with some effort, rasps and focuses his eyes on Keith.

“Yeah… I think? Oh…” Shiro notices the way his words are dragging and looks around confused. “What the…”

Oh shit. What the hell had they just inhaled?

“Pidge!” he hears himself yell like a drunk, to reach the other side of the bonfire while the smoke is slowly dissipating, “what is this? You said it wasn’t toxic!”

“It isn’t! The vines and roots are inoffensive… but maybe combustion changes the properties? Dunno,” she says in a blurt.

“THAT’S WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO WITH THEM PIDGE, WHAT THE FUCK!” screams Lance.

“Language, guys! Say _quiznak_ like any… _quiznacking_ decent person, please!” yells Hunk, before falling flat on his back with a groan.

“Isn’t it _quizzak…_?” Keith hears Romelle question the air because no one is really paying attention, everyone worrying about their own symptoms.

Keith’s head is spinning. Or maybe his eyes are spinning, because he suddenly can’t hold his gaze without seeing the images repeating like a stuck slideshow, but his thoughts are still working fine. That’s the bonfire. This is Shiro. That’s a strange purple rock and that’s the hole he made to throw dirt on the fire. Yeah, he can… he can still name things… he can even think how dead they are if the Galra decide to attack them right now. Gulping, he worries about the rest of his people.

“Shit. Krolia?” he crawls back to his position searching for his mother. He finds her sitting and with one hand on her face.

“I’m fine, Keith.”

“You sure?” he insists.

“Yeah. It’ll go away, I hope.”

“This reminds me of my old, youthful days when my friend Rasmus had the awful idea of buying Saratos crystals…” says Coran, getting on his feet and stumbling all over the place, trying to reach Allura.

“Do we want to know or not what are Saratos crystals?” asks Pidge.

“I think you don’t. Are you all right, Princess?”

“I-I… What if the Galra attack us now? What are we going to do?” asks Allura in a panicked tone, grabbing Coran’s hand to stand up and help Romelle too. Hunk also jumps up.

“Oh no, oh no… we can’t… we can’t let them get to us like this…”

“Guys, calm… calm down,” says Shiro, trying to sound relaxed but still stuttering a bit, “I think this will go away soon. We just breathed some of the smoke, no one is collapsing… I’m sure it’s not enough to last that long.”

Keith is recognizing some of his symptoms from another certain Earth plant he _may or may not_ have tried while living alone. This is so similar he can’t help blurting:

“Yeah. Feels like it’s gonna wear off in a few hours or so. Keep it cool.”

Shiro turns to him, squinting.

“How do you know?”

Keith squints right back at him.

“And how do _you_ know?”

Shiro raises an eyebrow but only presses his lips to contain a mischievous smile. The rest of the crew is trying to calm themselves.

“Yeah… Maybe it’ll go away in a while?”

“Maybe.”

“Perhaps…”

“…Mayhaps?”

Three seconds pass in silence, and then the team bursts into laughter. They laugh and writhe for a while, out of pure resignation.

 

* * *

 

It isn’t working that well, but it could be worse, thinks Keith.

Time flows strangely under the influence of what Pidge has managed to name “this _quiznaking_ alien psychotropic”. Apparently, the initial smell that made their heads spin was fairly inoffensive, but what really made the smoke dense enough to put them in this state was the mix with the microcrystals of the soil when they put off the bonfire. In summary, they had just created an alien drug of some kind, to their absolute dismay.

“This… is a secret. This dies with us… understood?” growls Allura, from the ground. Her head is resting on Coran’s legs and she is pressing her eyes shut and pouting.

Everyone else just hums, amused. The almighty paladins of Voltron defeated by an illegal bonfire. The chuckles and snorts all over the place had to mean they were all thinking the same, Keith guesses.

If only they were as smart as Cosmo, he thinks, looking at his loyal companion in the distance. As soon as the wolf detected the smell, he teleported next to Kaltenecker in the border of the clear. There they were, both pacifically chilling while the humans and Alteans paid for their stupidity.

The effects apparently work in phases, but no one knows how many nor how long will it take. At first, they couldn’t stay put. Full of euphoria, they started moving around, stumbling here and there and grabbing each other while wondering just how bad it would be if the Galra found them like this. Could they even pilot the Lions?

The sole idea caused a fit of laughter in the crew again. The Lions would be SO pissed at them.

But after that, they’ve started feeling less euphoric and more paranoid. They are excessively aware of every palpitation on their bodies and their senses of touch and smell seem to be abnormally acute. Every step they take feels like walking on sponges, so they sit or lay around, some looking at the sky.

“What if the gravity field of the planet reverses? Could you imagine?” suddenly asks Pidge with her back on the dirt, looking at the sky and making everyone shudder. Hunk turns on the ground and holds to the dusty grass with all his strength.

“Could you _not_? Please?”

“It’s just, that moon is so close. I bet that given the right rotations at a scale of—”

“Ahhh shut up, shut up, shut uuuuup! I’m gonna be sick,” cries Hunk, and being him, everyone believes him. Pidge’s laughter sounds sleepy, but evil.

“You are so cruel. Poor Hunk,” comments Romelle by Hunk’s side, pure sincerity. He whimpers, grateful.

“Haaaah she called you out!” exclaims Lance from the other side, moving his long legs as if it was the funniest thing he’s heard.

“Maaaatt, do something,” yells Pidge at her brother.

“Eh, what can I say. Mom put all the sweetness in me and the actual devil inside her,” he says, standing up, blowing a kiss at his sister and heading back to the radar equipment. Shiro follows him, chuckling.

“I’M TELLING HER, TRAITOR.”

The crew laughs but Keith notices they are a bit too clingy to each other and willing to talk more than they should. Inhibitions seem to be down… He only hopes no one ends up fighting with the sudden spasms of sincerity.

“And what about our almighty leader? How’s he doing?” shouts Lance at Keith.

Correction: he hopes no one, _including him_ , ends up snapping and fighting.

“Yes, you’re so quiet, Keith. Maybe because of Krolia?” asks Romelle, smiling at them, not ill-intended. Or maybe a bit.

“Hah! Well I wouldn’t want to be like this in front of my mom either,” agrees Lance.

Keith feels his cheeks burning, but Krolia slowly raises her gaze at Lance and just dead stares at him in absolute silence. Lance seems to shrink.

“... Sorry, ma’am…” he mumbles.

Up close, Keith can see the corners of Krolia’s mouth turning up. He had noticed already, but she seems to keep a certain interest in Lance while enjoying scaring the crap out of him. He also represses a smile.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” he answers, and the rest of the team laughs at Lance instead, booing him.

“Tche. Booooring,” Lance turns his back to him to hide his ashamed face.

“How are you all so calm, have you done something like this before? Can you, like, share the recipe to make the world stop spinning? Help a bro, please…” begs Hunk, still clinging to the grass and visibly trembling.

“Uh, great idea, Hunky! Tell your juicy stories, people. What’s your worst mischief? What’s your most embarrassing story?”

“Are you starting?” asks Pidge.

“ _Mayhaps_ , but not like you’re gonna listen, time for minors to go to bed,” mocks her Lance.

“Shut up!”

The team is noisy again and Keith sighs. He could participate with his own share of stories, but he doesn’t feel like talking. In fact, he feels more like looking at the sky and relaxing. His body is a bit twitchy, but his mind is clear, and his senses are overflowing with amplified perceptions, especially the colors, all vibrant and intense. He stops listening to the rest and gets lost in thought while his eyes wander around the beautiful place for an unknown amount of time. Why are the hills rainbow-colored? Why is there no wind? Why does it smell like salt? Why aren’t Shiro and Matt at the makeshift console…?

Keith blinks and looks at the equipment again. Frowning, he sits straight, feeling his heartbeat accelerate. Could they be in trouble, or just…?

A _snap_. His slow eyes search for the source of the sound and he finds Lance crouching near him, directing his orange screen to him.

Taking a goddamn picture.

Shifting from absolute peace to irrational fury in less than a second, Keith jumps up and heads towards Lance like an enraged bull. He sees in slow-mo how Lance’s features contort in absolute terror and his legs untangle to make a run for it, everything else disappearing around him, focused in the little shit escaping from him.

“Come back here!”

“Ahhh why are you chasing me, duuuude!”

Keith can hear the crew calling for them but doesn’t understand a word. He isn’t even sure if he’s truly running, he feels like he’s putting all his strength on his legs, but they just sink on the ground and he has to _leap_ every time. Lance is ahead of him shrieking and passing over plants and roots.

“Stop running!”

“Stop chasing me!”

Lance finally stumbles upon some dry root and lets out a scared screech when Keith finally catches him and tries to snatch the device from his hands, clumsily.

“It’s just a pic, man! What the hell!”

“I-don’t-want-you… to take pictures of me!” growls Keith, failing on taking the device from Lance, who is still crafty enough to hide it in the pockets of his jacket.

“Ah, sure, sure, but please… get off me!” begs Lance, in a choked voice. Keith blinks and notices. He’s got the red paladin pinned to the ground and he’s shamelessly searching on his pockets while sitting on his legs.

That’s… that’s no good.

Keith violently jerks back, sitting on the dirt and noticing how the colors around him are too strong for his eyes even in the dark. The weak light from this twilight is barely passing through the foliage of the forest and, in that dark place, he’s getting a bit too handsy with his rival. His cheeks burn again.

“I—”

They are interrupted when their sensitive ears catch voices. Keith’s rage has deflated, as well as Lance’s panic. Feeling relief, they stand up in awkward silence, following the voices to go back to the camp, Keith wondering what everyone will say after this childish display. At least they didn’t get that far, though Keith was sure he had run a real marathon chasing Lance…

“—I was reckless because of it.”

“It’s normal. You thought you were dying.”

Lance and Keith freeze when they realize they aren’t actually reaching the camp. The voices come from Shiro and Matt, who are sitting over a rock while speaking with heavy tongues due to the smoke, but still keeping a serious tone.

“I was. But I already had everything… And I just wanted more. I was selfish,” says Shiro, raising one leg over the rock.

“But it was your dream, Shiro…” Matt tilts his head with compassion, and Keith can see even from the distance how sad is the smile on Shiro’s face.

“It wasn’t my _only_ dream. I just made a choice. Good or bad… I don’t even know anymore.”

Keith feels a rock on his stomach. He knows what Shiro is talking about.

Adam.

“Well… we’re going back. You’re cured. Nothing is stopping you to… to go back for that dream, right?” says Matt, trying to sound cheerful, but there’s strain in his voice.

Shiro chuckles and looks at his friend fondly.

“You’re always so positive, Matt. But it’s been years. I wouldn’t want to disturb his peace…”

“Shiro, you sent him a message with my dad. You already disturbed his peace. Maybe he’s waiting for you.”

“Keith…”

Lance is tugging his shirt, but Keith can’t stop listening with wide open eyes when Shiro lets out the bitterest laugh he has ever heard from him.

“Did I? I still don’t have the answer. Was it really me the one who sent that message?”

“But—”

“I don’t even know who I am anymore, Matt. Am I just using a body that feels like mine but isn’t? I’m broken, I’m— I can’t face him this way. I don’t even know if I can face any of you.”

“Shiro! You’re YOU. The core? Is there. All you’ve lived during this time hasn’t changed that. I see it, we all see it. Who could blame you—!”

“No. No, Matt, I’ve done things that deserve that blame. Things I can’t forgive myself for. I told Keith he was worthless and hurt him. I tried to get the guys killed, I pushed away—”

“That wasn’t you.”

“BUT IT WAS. Because if I say that wasn’t me as an excuse, then who the hell am I right now? See why I just… can’t?”

Matt just hugs Shiro and the former black paladin clings to him for dear life, as if that comfort is all he wants, the image burning in Keith’s astonished eyes.

Shiro hadn’t shared those fears with him. He can see why. He probably doesn’t want to scare him nor burden him with them, always protecting him, hiding his deepest wounds. Keith isn’t dumb. He sees why Shiro does it, but… it hurts anyway. If only he could give Shiro a part of what he gave him when he needed him the most. If only he could fix his life the same way he did for him…

“Alright, enough. Let's move, Keith,” whispers Lance, trying to drag him away, but Keith can’t control his own feet. He is fixated in that sad smile and that pain dripping from Shiro.

“Dude, don’t do this to him. Move,” orders him Lance, and Keith turns to him, reacting to his words. That’s right, he is stealing the privacy of this moment from Shiro. Slowly, he manages to walk away following Lance, until the red paladin stops.

He sighs, and they are silent for a while. Keith is still shocked, but Lance stands in all his height to make one declaration.

“Okay… I don’t even know where we are.”

Keith raises his eyes and the woods look the exact same as before. He doesn’t have any idea of where they are, either. In their effort to get away from Matt and Shiro they ended lost.

“Shit. And I didn’t bring my comm,” he mumbles, thinking how dumb this situation is, but the shock from what he saw is still making it hard to concentrate on something else. Lance’s legs give up and he supports his back on a tree.

“Alright, let’s… let’s think. How about we climb this hill? Maybe we can see the camp from there. I mean, we could see the Lions, that’s for sure…” says Lance, measuring the closest hill. It doesn’t look so tall, thinks Keith, but then again… their senses aren’t back to normal yet. Not like they have a better plan though.

“Let’s go,” says Keith.

In silence, they feel the way the ground elevates, and they soon have to crouch for more stability and grab the borders of the rocks. The rainbow-color of the hills comes from the dense dust on them, their hands are soon dirty with it and the climb is starting to exhaust them, when Keith looks back and notices… they aren’t really that high, after all that effort. High as in, height.

What the hell.

“Are we even climbing?” he asks, trying to focus his treacherous eyes on the way. Lance also looks back.

“Man. Man, are you kidding me? It felt like we’re on the _quiznaking_ Everest!”

“But how long have we been here?”

“I don’t know, it feels like a damn eternity!”

“Fuck. Fuck this…” Keith tries to accelerate the pace and the same bubbling rage from before blinds him enough to make his tired legs go ahead. He just wants to go back to the camp and think. Or not. Whatever.

“Wait! Wait, man, don’t leave me behind… aaaah, _quiznak…_ ” Lance follows him whining the whole way up. Keith still can’t grasp the flow of time, but he finds himself surprised when his feet suddenly allow him to stand straight.

They just reached the peak in like… one minute.

“What the…?”

“We did it?!” asks Lance, bending to grab his knees, “did we teleport? We did, didn’t we?”

“No we didn’t, dumbass…” says Keith, but he’s honestly not convinced. How did they reach the peak so quickly when they felt they weren’t even advancing? Was it really the smoke or were they just in another Quantum Abyss?

Squinting, he looks around and discovers that he can’t even see where the Lions are. And that’s bad. Really bad.

“Woah, what’s that?” asks Lance, too loud, apparently having forgotten what they were looking for and pointing down.

Between the circle of hills, a huge mirror expands before their eyes. A lake? Crystal? They can’t tell, but it looks like a perfect copy of the sky above.

“No way, dude… let’s go check it!” says Lance, as he starts sliding down the hill.

“Wh— Wait! Lance!” Keith calls him, but the red paladin is descending quickly. Grumbling, Keith goes after him watching closely the way Lance slides down and cheers in a new episode of euphoria, apparently.

And if going up was hard, going down was even worse. The danger of slipping and dying is serious… But his numbed brain is somehow enjoying this. As they descend and slide with colored dust dancing around them, while the blood pumps in his body and he is aware of every heartbeat inside him, he finds himself smiling.

It’s freeing. It’s liberating. How long has it been since he did something like this? Without feeling he could die at any given moment, that is.

His mind takes him to the past. The desert, riding with Shiro their hoverbikes. It’s the same old excitement.

He remembers his worry about him, the sadness in his voice and it stings a bit again. But he looks at Lance, screaming and extending his arms as if he’s having a blast and the swelling in his chest increases. Everything is weird tonight, but he can’t say he hates this.

When they reach the base of the hill Lance is going too fast and can’t stop. He just yells and falls on the lake and Keith hurries to catch him in case he sinks. But he doesn’t.

“Woah, woah! IT’S NOT WATER!” Lance is on his knees. His body plunges just a bit in the substance and he notices his wet knees. “Wait… IT IS?”

“It smells… salty,” says Keith, grabbing Lance’s arm to help him stand up with little delicacy. Whatever they are really standing on doesn’t even matter anymore, though, because the view is so breathtaking that none of them is capable of pondering about it anymore, both paladins looking around in awe.

It’s like a huge lake, the circle of hills descending right into it forming an irregular clear without trees around. The moons, the colors of the hills and the gorgeous view of the sky reflect on the surface of this dense lake, dense enough to hold their weight and making them feel like they are standing over an impeccable mirror.

Keith looks at his own feet and his overstimulated senses temporarily disorient him. Is he floating? Is he up or down? He looks at what he thinks is the sky and the view is the exact same as the ground, even the mountains reflecting in perfect symmetry. It makes him feel cold and weirdly ethereal, and his legs drag him one step forward to dissipate that sensation. The liquid barely stirs at his pass and he smiles. With his right foot, he tries to draw a wobbly line, but it disappears as if someone was erasing it from below and the surface returns to its immaculate state.

So funny. So pretty. He can’t believe he’s here with everyone, in such a beautiful place and feeling all of these sensations. Well, no. Now he is here specifically with Lance, he remembers, turning (in the annoying slow-mo again) towards him, but with a grin on his face that’s making his cheeks almost hurt. He wonders if he will find Lance as mesmerized with the view as he feels.

And he finds Lance, except he is not looking at the sky, nor the lake. With his damn device on hand, he is pointing at _him_. Keith blinks slowly, feeling his smile waver as something similar to rage tries to rise, but doesn’t quite make it. He just can’t be mad at anything right now.

Lance looks like a deer scared by a car’s lights, lanky and shy, holding the camera in front of him, his droopy eyes guilty and ready for punishment. But the black paladin doesn’t say anything, so he slowly looks down at the screen and then at Keith again. And then, wetting his dry lips, he blurts in a brittle voice:

“Please… let me keep this one?”

Keith’s drugged brain takes a while to process these words, but even before he can comprehend them and make a judgment about it his mouth is betraying him and curling into a smile again. A torrent of something warm runs on his chest and he just must let it out. Everything is just… so funny!

He laughs. He laughs like he hasn’t in who knows how long, if he ever laughed like this before. He cackles with his head tilted back, his chest resounding, and he is soon gasping for air, one hand on his aching stomach and the other over his eyes that are starting to tear up.

He feels a hand on his shoulder and with effort opens one eye and tries to focus on it, but he is still in a fit and hearing Lance’s fruity laughter near his ear is making it even worse. They are making each other laugh even more, the pressure on his shoulder starting to feel uncomfortable when Lance propels his body down as if his legs can’t hold him while he shakes in loud convulsions.

Keith has no idea how long they stand there like this, but his entire torso hurts by this point and his tears are bothersome. The fit slowly dies and he takes deep breaths to stop it, with occasional spasms. Lance is still bent and clutching his shoulder, but now he wheezes and exhales trying to control it too.

“D-dude. What— what the hell was that,” he manages to stutter.

“I don’t even k-know,” says Keith, feeling the echo of laughter tempting him again, but he resists it.

Lance straightens his back again and his face is way too close. Keith takes a moment to process this fact, but when he does, he is also overly aware of the burning hand on his shoulder and the pain from before seems to melt into the same pesky tickle that's been bothering him since Ireti, now as intense as the colors his overstimulated eyes perceive all around.

It has to be the smoke. It has to. Unconsciously, he steps back, and his foot slides a bit on the surface of the mysterious salt plain, menacing to make him fall.

“Whoa, watch it,” says Lance, holding him by the wrist, also trying to keep his balance. He is smiling again, and Keith can’t tear his eyes apart from that clear, luminous vision. The slowness of his brain and the general malfunction of his itchy body are a nuisance. He wants to focus properly on it, say something and _think_ , but he can’t do any of these. He doesn’t even remember what he was laughing about before.

“This is… one of the prettiest things I’ve seen. Dude, this sky is making me all emotional…” mumbles Lance, and Keith tries to analyze his face and see if it’s true, but he can’t really make anything out of it. It’s like his “face reader” is suddenly broken. He can’t really judge his expression but, instead, he can easily appreciate stupid details, like how smooth Lance’s skin looks, stretching over his sharp bones in such nice angles.

Damn. Smoke.

“Okay, but don’t cry,” he blurts, still squinting and trying to see past the ridiculous details, while feeling the skin of his own face weirdly stiff.

Lance turns to him again, offended.

“I’m not! What the hell, man!”

“I don’t like it when you cry,” simply declares Keith and then a raging little voice in his brain is shouting at him that that was _too much info_ , for some reason. Lance’s eyes couldn’t be wider.

“You say it like I always do! I don’t!”

“I know…”

“Why don’t _you_ cry, for a change? I know you’re hurt now,” snaps Lance. Keith’s eyes descend to his wrist, where the red paladin’s fingers are still clutching and twitching, making him too aware of the throbs of his pulse there. He can’t stop looking, but the words cut him a bit.

“I’m not hurt,” he denies.

“Oh yes you are,” Lance insists. “And I know you’d rather be there with Shiro right now... I’m sorry.”

The moment is shifting, and Keith doesn’t like it, but at the same time, it feels inevitable. Like something that must be addressed sooner or later.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I…” Lance fidgets, slowly letting go of Keith’s wrist. “I’ve been giving you a lot of trouble lately, haven’t I? I know you want to pay more attention to Shiro, and instead, you end up stuck with me every single time… must be really frustrating, huh.”

Keith would have never guessed that Lance was considering something like this. And it’s true, except for one detail. It’s not like he is ‘stuck’ with him. It’s more like a personal, incomprehensible choice. Keith takes a deep breath, feeling the salt sticking to his palate.

“You have siblings, don’t you?” he asks.

“Huh? Yeah… four, in fact,” Lance replies.

“Then you must know better than me, but I guess you don’t tell them everything that happens to you. Or do you?”

Lance blinks slowly.

“Is that what Shiro is to you? A brother…?”

“He is.” Keith looks right at Lance’s eyes. “He was everything to me at one point. The only person who cared about me, my best friend, my entire family.”

Lance is quiet. His eyes shine with the lights around them.

“But now I have more people with me. And I know he does too. He always did, anyway. And right now, he just needs a friend, so I respect that… I can see why. I’m not hurt.”

Lance nods and hums, drawing with his foot another disappearing line in the surface of the lake.

“What about you, then?” he asks. Keith looks at him, unfazed. Lance holds his gaze. “Don’t you need a friend too?”

Does he? Good question. His mind feels a bit clearer now, but the disinhibition is still there, and he feels compelled to be honest.

“...Maybe,” he answers. Because he now has a mother, a brother and a group to rely on, but when he feels like he feels now… who should he go to? The idea makes him snort. Everything is so new to him in the social department.

“Then, uh… how about me?”

Keith just looks at Lance again, making him blush and stutter to explain himself.

“I-I mean, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but maybe… after all we’ve been through… and the way we... now... you know, we could start again? If… if you want.”

“How?” Keith lets out a small laugh. It’s so ridiculous, this situation and the cocky way on which Lance is now standing there.

“Pff, easy.” Lance clears his throat with great ceremony. “Hey there, pal. The name’s Lance McClain. Red paladin of Voltron, talented sharpshooter and a total heartthrob. Who are you?”

Just how literal and cheesy can Lance be? However, in his state, Keith can’t help thinking… why not? His time on the Quantum Abyss made him wish so many times he could turn time back to fix things. Why not fix this one too? What could have been of them if he wasn’t so hurt and so broken when he was a child? Maybe he and Lance would have been friends. Childhood friends even, like he is with Hunk, who knows. The possibilities are infinite, as he has already learned.

His voice sounds weird in his own ears when he replies.

“Keith Kogane. Half galra, the black paladin… leader of Voltron.”

“Hah, show-off.” Lance is grinning, and Keith’s pulse goes wild again for no reason. “But that’s good, that’s good… so let’s be friends from now on, then. Officially.”

Lance extends a hand and Keith doubts for a moment. It’s SO stupid and he is convinced he would never do this if it wasn’t for the smoke numbing his brain, or the place, and the sky and the lake… With trembling fingers, he takes the offered hand and Lance shakes it.

“See? Easy peasy.”

Keith scoffs while they both let their hands go. In a weird mix of thoughts, the cold of his released hand and things of the past connect, making him remember old fears.

Maybe it’s a bad idea to get in better terms with Lance. If he gets too comfortable around this _"new"_ friend, he may have trouble letting go. Because even though during his last two years enjoying love and yearning he has forgotten the awful shadow that darkened his whole life, it still can come back to haunt him. _Abandonment_. Everyone leaving him. From a very young age, he learned the hard way that people come and go and even those who should remain naturally by your side could be snatched away, be it by death, by duty or just because they want to. His dad, his mother and even Shiro left him behind at some point. Alone and lost.

And Lance? Lance is leaving too, after all, unless they convince him otherwise and, honestly, he doesn’t even know if he’s really helping. But he is a grown man now. He can take this as a mere end to hostilities without giving in to the temptation of relying on Lance more than he should, right? He isn’t that stupid…

But then again, he is right in the middle of a beautiful lake feeling his heart throb in awkward rhythm because of him and that, as his numbed brain screams, _could be bad news. Very bad news._

“What is it? Why the long face?”

Lance is tilting his face and sporting a mocking grimace. Keith decides to bury his considerations and shot him back a scowl.

“Just wondering, _friend_. Will you even remember this?”

“What do you mean?”

Keith bites his lip. Lance just shouldn’t be promising friendship and rainbows to people he pretends to leave behind. Not that he can say it, though.

“Nothing, forget it.”

He starts looking around, slowly coming to his senses, wondering where they should head now. They’d have to climb the hill again…

“Wait a minute,” Lance stomps into his field of vision with scandal. “Are you... Are you _still_ salty about the cradling thing from a century ago? Really, Keith? Is that it?”

“What? No, that’s not— Wait… you remember that!” Keith furrows his eyebrows and takes a step forward, pointing at Lance’s chest, who is raising his shoulders as if he can't believe it. “I knew it! Why deny it?”

“Shut up, dude, you didn’t even remember _me_ when we met! And we were classmates for years!” grumbles Lance, without stepping back.

“I just didn’t recognize you!”

“How could you not?!”

“You were small and obnoxious before, now you’re just obnoxious!”

“HEY!”

Keith and Lance sigh at the same time.

“Damn it, we are supposed to be past this! We even shook hands like a minute ago!” pouts Lance.

“We could be, but you always insist on picking fights with me,” retorts Keith, unable to hide the resentment in his voice.

“I… I just—” Lance’s anger seems to deflate. Keith can almost see himself reflected in those troubled eyes. Lance opens his mouth to say something else but is interrupted by a sudden blue spark right in front of them.

Keith instinctively knows he has to step back, but Lance isn’t that quick and when Cosmo materializes, the wolf lands right over the red paladin, making him fall flat on his back over the dense surface of the salt plain. The weight of the multiverse animal sinks half of his body on it before the wolf gets off his chest to let him stand up between curses.

“You found us, well done, Cosmo!” Keith says, ruffling his beloved wolf's pelt and feeling relieved that they won’t have to walk back.

“Teach him how to land!” growls Lance, checking how all his backside is dripping and white with the salt of the surface.

“You just have to step back faster next time,” says Keith, smirking. He offers a hand to Lance. “You mentioned teleporting before?”

“What? What do you—”

With a hand on Cosmo’s fur and the other holding Lance, they start jumping through space in short distances, making Lance yell and gasp in every stop.

“Dude!— What the!!— QUIZNAK!!!”

Keith laughs while the familiar feeling of floating and teleporting makes him forget everything else, at least for a while. This little trick he had learned in the Quantum Abyss was incredibly liberating on itself.

When they reach the border of the clear, Cosmo just runs back to the camp and leaves them behind. Lance is kneeling and trying to catch his breath.

“You get used to it,” says Keith.

“I bet it’s cool when you don’t feel like puking,” says Lance turning his head and pressing his forehead against one of the tall plants. “I swear dude, you always have another surprise under your sleeve…”

Keith smiles and then a lot of voices come closer.

“Where were you!”

“Are you guys okay?”

“Damn it, guys, Shiro and Matt are searching for you. Shiro was going NUTS!”

The crew is surrounding them with different levels of anger in their faces.

“What were you even doing?” asks Allura.

To be petty or not be petty? That is the question… Keith smirks.

“We just had a bonding moment. Didn’t we?”

Lance groans, slapping his own face. Be it because he feels he deserves it or just because he really is coming to terms with it, he answers in a flat tone:

“Yeah. Sure, we did. Bonding. Great.”

Keith would lie if he said it wasn’t satisfactory hearing that and the teasing from the crew. He catches Krolia’s eyes on him and he knows she’s not letting that one go, but anyways…

Worth it.

* * *

 

After a few hours of sleeping like logs, they are feeling okay. A bit groggy, perhaps, but back to normal.

“Can we, like, agree to never mention this fiasco again?” asks Hunk, while they pack to start their journey again.

“Agreed,” answer the rest of the people in unison.

It had been a humiliating failure, but Keith can’t help thinking that a lot of unexpected things happened to him at this place. He watches Shiro and the way he smiles and works like always, lively and kind. He truly hopes that his new prosthetic helps him to feel better while he settles his other personal matters. Just two more stops and they will reach Kara-tur, where they are supposed to install it. And after that… Olkarion, at last.

His thoughts are distracted by Hunk’s loud voice.

“What are you smiling at, buddy?”

Keith turns around and catches just in time how Lance is hiding something in his pocket in a subtle move.

“Nothing. Did someone convince Matt to not take the vines as ‘samples’ already or do we have to tie him up?” he asks, but Keith notices the soft pink tint in his ears, even in the weak light, just like in Ireti. His mouth curves upwards at the view.

“What are _you_ smiling at, Keith?” asks Krolia’s voice near his ear.

He flinches. His mother is putting her chin on his shoulder to identify his field of vision, so he quickly goes back to his chores.

“Nothing. Just glad we are leaving,” he hurries to say.

“Hmmm… I see.”

She clearly doesn’t believe a word but doesn’t insist and Keith is grateful for that. He isn’t sure what he could say about his experience in this place, after all. It feels like one huge, long fever dream.

Maybe it’s something he can’t share with his mother, after all. But, well… doesn’t he have a friend for that now?

While picking his last metallic crate, he glimpses to the side and finds Lance, doing the exact same and turning his head towards him too. They just stand there for a second, both catching each other looking their way, but then Lance raises a hand and makes finger guns at him. Keith rolls his eyes with a small smile and walks inside Black.

They are almost halfway on their journey back home and he should be glad. Instead, he feels like someone is lending him something he will have to return and that’s not good.

He can’t help wondering if what happened last night means something to Lance. He’s reluctant to recognize it, but it… did mean something to him.

It would be nice if it could weight a bit on his final decision, at least. And if not, then it’d be even nicer if Lance could stop doing things that throw him out of balance because, like he failed to tell him last night, the one with the bunch of surprises under their sleeve is actually him, with his stupid ideas and words, handshakes and pictures…

… Pictures.

Lance’s pictures.

He startles Cosmo and Krolia when he bangs his head on Black’s panel in utter, total, absolute defeat.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. Sorry for the crack chapter? It's like a Naruto filler... we'll be back to our serious program next one, don't lose faith tho! Also, I owe my friend Coni some of these ideas. Especially the teleporting hill, lol ;). That's for you, honey!  
> Anyways, this chapter represents... friendship! Reason to stay: you can't promise someone to be a friend and then leave them! C'mon Lance! 
> 
> I'll be updating as soon as I can within this week. Hope you are up for dancing? ;)
> 
> Any comment and input is very, VERY welcome. I barely had time to edit this, and maybe there's a drop in quality... but I'm open to critiques and please point any mistake that irks you! <3
> 
> Thanks a lot for reading!


	4. Reason #3: You are my (dance) partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finally reaches its last destination before Earth. But to guarantee the cooperation of two cultures to help them get home, they are forced to participate in their negociations and a formal party that... may or may not end in disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None this time! Just... find the time because it's a long chapter!  
> Hi! SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG. IRL attacked, and then anxiety hit and... suddenly, we are 4 days away from season 7! And 2 chapters away from finishing this! Since I took so long I added a few bits of info we got past week. Also, I tweaked a bit last chapter, in case you wanna revisit. And finally, this chapter is inspired by [this gorgeous post!](http://doodldan.tumblr.com/post/175264336147/what-if-they-had-capes) And also a little wink to [this one too!](http://leaflessart.tumblr.com/post/176663588371/bored-boys-at-a-meeting)  
> Hope you enjoy!

When they discover that they’re having trouble forming Voltron is when they start feeling uneasy.

At first, it would take them two attempts. As days pass, they notice it’s taking more tries, and then, after a few days, they decide to stop trying, supposedly to save energy, but in fact, to hide the drop in their morale.

The Lions seem to be taking longer to charge, though Allura doesn’t feel anomalies in their structure. It’s more like an internal problem, an interference in their connection. So, they make a hobby of theorizing about the possible causes while traveling fast, sleeping less and paying attention to the news about the increase in the internal activities of the Galra. They fly their Lions, stop here and there and hope for the best, being lucky of not encountering enemy fleets, but with no allies nearby the last part of the journey, having fewer commodities too. Also, avoiding the brutal flora and fauna of space is becoming their real challenge. Last time, Lance and Matt almost got eaten by a giant tree-like creature that didn’t take too well their climbing competition.

They are slower now and, therefore, it takes them more than one month since their embarrassing, _forgotten_ episode in the pretty planet to reach the border of the Xenui quadrant. That’s why it’s no wonder that, as soon as their panels show them the proximity of their destination, the crew explodes in cheers.

“Woohoo! Guys, we’re finally here! I’m about to cry!”

“We did it! I can’t believe it, I swear it feels like it took us forever…”

“It DID take us forever.”

“We are here, at last,” says Shiro too, smiling at the panel in front of Keith. The former leader has been aboard Black together with Keith, Krolia and Cosmo for a while. The wolf lets out an unimpressed yawn, but the other three watch the image in front of them with enthusiastic eyes. A grey, small and plain-looking sphere is in the horizon, barely an hour away.

“So that’s Kara-tur?” asks Keith, thinking it’s a bit disappointing after how long it took them to reach it.

“Yup, farthest planet of this system, mostly artificial and home of the infamous Injini,” recites Matt, from Green.

“ _Infamous?_ ” repeats Hunk, questioningly.

“Now that you mention it, isn’t this the system of the Olkari? How come we are visiting these dudes for the first time when Olkarion is close and, like… the heart of the Coalition?” asks Lance, frowning. Keith’s eyes linger in the classic expression of the Red paladin in the image feed.

“Well, the Injini are, uh… _special_. As I told you a few days ago, once we’re there we gotta behave and not cause any trouble, or else we could blow one of our current best deals,” warns them, Matt, in a more serious tone.

“Define ‘behave’ again,” says Pidge, looking over her shoulder at his brother with crossed arms. Matt sighs.

“Well, now is a good time to explain, I guess. If you never visited them before it’s because they joined the Coalition very late in the game.”

“Oh, yes. We were informed that they wanted to meet us, but we were too far away to detour and come pay them a visit. To be honest, we are not even familiar with their kind,” says Coran, and Allura nods to confirm it.

“Don’t quote me, but I think they’re a relatively young civilization,” says Matt, scratching his jaw, “I’m not an expert so I’m not sure about their origin, but they became powerful in a short amount of time. From what I know, they move from planet to planet every few centuries looking for resources to exploit. They work many rare materials like luxite and even scaultrite, living out of trading them so… of course, they even made deals with the Galra in the past.”

“Is that so?” asks Allura, frowning.

“Yep. That granted them peace for a long time. Enough to even fight their own neighbors,” answers Matt, “they have a thing going with the Olkari since the arrived at this system. That’s why they didn’t move a finger to help them when they were conquered by the Galra…”

“Lovely,” says Hunk.

“I despise them already,” mumbles Pidge, slumping on her seat. Matt snickers.

“Can’t blame you. They aren’t the nicest either. They’re kind of… how can I say it…” the eldest Holt winces trying to find adequate words but seems to give up midway, because he just shrugs and says, “…a bunch of stuck up pricks, to be honest.”

“Woah.” The crew laughs while Coran frowns.

“It’s true! I was the one forced to call them every time and they are so… ugh.” Matt rolls his eyes and sighs, but then changes his tone to one more uplifting.

“Anyways, it’s not _that_ terrible either. They really like to brag, so as long as you don’t question their advancements and lifestyle we’ll be okay. That goes for you, Pidge,” the girl scoffs at her brother. “Oh, and don’t mention the Olkari unless strictly necessary. I think that’s enough to be on their good side. After all, you’re the paladins of Voltron… I bet they’ll be sucking up to you the whole time.”

“Sounds way too complicated… do we really need them that bad? Can’t we just go directly to the Olkari?” asks Keith, frowning.

“Sorry, but if we want to create Shiro’s new prosthetic with the best materials in the market, we need them. Sadly, the Olkari can’t grant us everything we need for this project,” explains Matt.

Shiro’s shoulders drop.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, but Matt laughs.

“Aw, don’t be! It’s just an extra stop, that’s all. We’ve been planning this with the guys for so long, why back away now? Also, we’ll be staying at our base most of the time. We even brought an expert to help us, you’ll see. Relax,” winks Matt in his natural reassuring tone, and Shiro smiles, though he still looks uncomfortable.

Keith can see, up close, how tired Shiro looks. The journey has been draining on everyone, but Shiro is still recovering from his horrifying experience, even after weeks, and by now he looks like he could use a rest. But that’s not all.

He knows something else now that Shiro decided to travel with them. Those times they were forced to sleep inside the Lions, he and Krolia noticed how restless are Shiro’s nights. He is having nightmares and waking up every few hours, and instead of decreasing, they seem to be getting worse. He suspects that’s the true reason why he switched from traveling with the Holt siblings during the last weeks.

But Keith decided to keep quiet about it… It’s not like he was doing much better, after all.

“It’s all right, Shiro. Besides, since they joined they have been asking for an audience with us,” says Coran, crossing his arms with elegant disdain, “they were _very_ adamant about it. We can take the chance to secure their cooperation in the future. And it will be worth it if they can grant you the best of the best.”

“Thanks Coran,” says the former paladin, smiling.

The group discusses what they consider a proper behavior for a while, but Keith doesn’t participate. Instead, his eyes wander over the faces of his teammates and stop like a learned reflex on the red paladin’s face. Lance looks cheerful. He had been worried because he noticed that after their problems forming Voltron Lance had a drop on his humor again, but now he’s looking fairly well, and Keith just appreciates the image with tired eyes.

He’s been stealing these glances here and there since the ‘forgotten incident’, as they had named it. It’s like his eyes always roam to Lance, as if he always wanted to check that the paladin was still there and fine. But there’s no need, since Lance is doing remarkably better. The distant night in Ireti, sweating his fever and confessing his fears seems to be a thing of the past and Keith has started to wonder if he actually just imagined it. Just like the night in the lake, and a hand clutching his wrist…

He’s thinking of this when he finds blue eyes piercing right through his. Though he can’t be sure, he suddenly gets the strange certainty that Lance is also looking at him and, in a sudden impulse, he turns off the image feed. Sighing, he just drops back in his seat.

This behavior doesn’t go unnoticed by the people with him. Krolia crouches by his side, checking his face with critical eye.

“Are you alright, Keith? You look sick,” she says.

“True, you’re looking pale,” adds Shiro, concerned.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m not sick… I guess I’m just tired. Really,” he assures. Krolia hums and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll be there soon. Hang in there.”

“You worry too much, I said I’m fine,” protests Keith, smirking. Krolia looks at him exasperated but then she pats his shoulder and smiles too, sitting by Cosmo’s side, being followed by Shiro.

Keith sighs again and, even without image, he listens to the paladins’ ramblings while vaguely recalling random images from these past months. Like when they had to make an emergency stop to recharge and were almost blown away by a sudden storm on that innocent looking planet. Or when he trained with Lance in that ugly swampy place and the red paladin pinned him to the floor for the first time but was so distracted celebrating that didn’t see the kick coming. Or when Lance offered him that fruit not noticing his mouth was turning purple. Keith had a fit of laughter and the purple in Lance’s mouth lasted three days to everyone’s amusement.

His mouth is curving again at the memory, while his eyes insist on locking on the Red Lion.

Then he shakes his head.

Maybe he _is_ sick, after all.

* * *

 

The crew descends from the Lions groaning and stretching after the long last days with no stops, walking to meet on the center of the track where the rebels guided them to land. Keith looks around and notices the place is just as plain as it looks from afar. Everything around them is metallic, from the ground to the tall buildings of the dense city in the horizon, casting cold shadows over each other. The Injini created an artificial atmosphere for clean air that surrounds the entire planet like a yellow mist but, sadly, doesn’t make the place any less ugly and cold, Keith notices, shivering a bit. After their wild journey visiting so many cultures and uninhabited wonders, this place feels really gloom and boring.

While his master is distracted by the view, Cosmo suddenly trots away and teleports. Keith’s eyes know exactly where to look: the blue light shines right next to Lance who, already accustomed, steps aside in time to let the wolf land and nuzzle his legs. Even from afar he can hear Lance cooing at the wolf while kneeling and scratching him behind the ears.

“Hey buddy, missed me? Yeah, you missed me! Good boy!”

Everyone chuckles at the scene. It had been a while since the team could meet face to face, so everyone is greeting each other as they get close with hugs, handclasps and jokes. Lance raises his gaze at Keith from the distance, smiling. The black paladin answers the smile with another one, but then turns his head to one side in surprise when he feels his insides churning.

He is having trouble sleeping lately, and it’s not only because of the nightmares about his fight with Shiro. Those wake him up from time to time, but falling asleep? That’s an entirely different problem. The closer they get to Earth, the more anxious he feels, and it’s been driving him mad because he still can’t explain himself _why_. Though he knows very well it has to do with a _who._

He knows Lance still pretends to stay home. He notices it in the way he takes pictures of everyone and everything, in his renewed, excessive enthusiasm about everything, and in the veiled uneasiness, he detected in their connection when they were still able to form Voltron. But, apparently, he is still the only one who knows. Looking at the crew, he wonders how is that possible, when the truth is blatantly in front of them.

But even if it’s hard to believe, it makes sense that only he knows. Keith isn’t sure _how_ it happened, but Lance had casually stepped into his new life and now they were closer than ever. During the last weeks, they would train together whenever they could –it didn’t help at all that Lance was getting better and better, making it actually enjoyable—, they’d naturally sit together during their breaks –he didn’t know why—, Cosmo loved him – though Lance’s attempts to train him to teleport with him too were in vain— and, hell, even _Krolia_ seemed to be fond of him by this point –though she still enjoyed watching him stutter in front of her—. 

And all of this, he had allowed it. At first, because he pitied him, supposedly. Poor Lance, alone and broken in his bed, confessing his deepest fears and pains, he needed some help and Keith thought, cheekily, that maybe now that he had figured out a few things about himself, he’d be able to provide it. At least he could _try_ … but then, Lance would strike him again with his relentless personality and skills, opening a path into his personal space, proving that he didn’t need any pity at all, surprising him, impressing him… making the journey an adventure.

But this is no reason to feel he swallowed a living creature. It’s not reason to lose sleep over it, and he is suddenly afraid that his investment in Lance’s situation could be mutating into something problematic, awful and—

“Keith, you alright?”

The black paladin steps back, startled, when he finds Lance and Cosmo by his side, the red paladin looking at him from various angles with a curious expression.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Keith stutters, feeling his face warming up. He quickly starts walking again to meet the rest of the group and Lance follows him, still not convinced.

“Are you sure? You look a bit pale, dude. Shouldn’t you—”

“I told you I’m fine, Lance, drop it.”

The boy grimaces, surprised and offended.

“Okay then, geez… Mr. Grumpypants is back in the house…” he mumbles, walking ahead of him with his nose pointing up. Keith slaps his face and finds Cosmo at his feet, looking at him with unfazed eyes.

He is being so ridiculous that even his wolf started judging him. He forces his body to move and reunite with the rest.

The rebels receive them effusively and guide them inside the complex where the Coalition set one of their newest and most advanced facilities. They are eager to start working in Shiro’s prosthetic arm immediately, but the rebels inform them that the three leaders of the Injini are waiting for them in their meeting room in some sort of diplomatic ambush. Allura cocks one eyebrow at this.

“Apparently patience is not a virtue around here,” says Coran, annoyed. The princess sighs.

“Let’s deal with them first, then. I’m so sorry Shiro, could you wait a bit more?” asks Allura.

“Don’t worry, we just arrived anyway. Let’s see what they want from us first,” Shiro answers, smiling.

“Excuse me then, while you take care of that, I’m gonna go and check on our materials and stuff,” announces Matt.

“Good to know you’re totally _not_ running away from these guys,” says Pidge, unimpressed. Matt takes a hand to his chest, gasping.

“Your suggestion offends me, Pidge. _Of course_ I’m running away from them because, unlike you, I can,” he boasts, making the team groan.

“C’mon Matthew, at least deny it,” innocently laughs Shiro, but he makes Matt step back and hit his head in one of the emergency lights. He paws his nape, blushing.

“Ouch… uh, yeah, sorry… then… I’m off,” stammers the eldest Holt, hurrying while Shiro stares at him, scratching his head. Everyone else watches Matt disappear into another corridor in silence.

“We are not related,” mumbles Pidge, walking behind Allura and Coran, while Romelle and Hunk exchange mischievous looks from opposite sides. Keith instinctively looks at Lance, expecting him to comment something, but the paladin is apparently still sulking. Before Keith can decide if he should say something, after all, they arrive at the room where the leaders are waiting for them and only the paladins and Coran cross the door.

Inside they find a huge round table and three creatures standing next to it in all their considerable height. They are thin, tall and rough-faced, with high cheekbones and lipless mouths, long necks and grey skin. They all have their hands over their narrow right shoulders in the exact same position, where long fingers clutch three identical brooches holding capes falling behind them. Their dark eyes show severity and Keith can immediately understand why Matt would run away from them. He notices Allura swallowing by his side.

“Greetings, princess Allura, paladins of Voltron… and others,” says the one in the middle, looking unimpressed at Coran. The Altean’s cheeks bloat at the words.

“Greetings. I trust you didn’t wait too long for us,” answers Allura in a dry tone, stepping into the room to take a seat. The rest follows her example, while the creatures nod and do the same.

“We have waited a long time for this reunion. Waiting for a few doboshes more is not an issue,” answers another one of them. Their voices are barely distinguishable.

“My apologies. We have been dealing with a lot lately, as you may know” affirms Allura, trying to disguise the bitterness in her voice.

“We are aware,” declares the first creature. They nod at the team. “We are the Triumvirate of Kara-tur, leaders of the Injini. We welcome you to our planet and hope to be of service to your endeavors.”

“Thank you very much. Your help will be invaluable to us,” says Allura, and Shiro nods. The Triumvirate looks at the former black paladin.

“Voltron is the beacon of hope to all oppressed people. The black paladin, in particular, is very popular across many galaxies. We are honored to be of help in his recovery.”

The team crosses nervous glances across the table. They… they couldn’t be referring to their public show from like a year ago, right…?

“I’m really thankful, then,” says Shiro, “but I’m not the black paladin anymore.”

“No?” asks the third member of the Injini.

“Not anymore. The black paladin of Voltron is Keith,” says Shiro, putting his left hand on Keith’s right shoulder, sounding a bit too proud. Keith looks at the Injini without saying a word. The leaders look at each other before speaking again.

“We were not aware. But it does not change our offer.”

The team lets out a relieved sigh.

“Thank you—” starts Allura, but one of the leaders speak again.

“We are also aware that you seek to recreate the teludav technology and to do so, you are visiting the Olkari,” interrupts the alien.

“Y-yes, that is correct. It’s our next destination,” admits Allura, clearly worried that the Olkari are being dragged into the conversation so soon.

The Triumvirate look at each other again and Keith wonders if they can communicate between them in silence. Maybe the metallic bands covering their heads and what could be their ears have something to do with it.

“We understand. We would like to cooperate with that too, since we find ourselves in the position to facilitate you scaultrite and other components that can prove to be… difficult to come across otherwise,” says one leader, in the tone a bargainer would use.

“Oh, you do?” asks Coran skeptical, earning himself a cold stare from the trio.

“Yes. But you may find out it will be difficult to convince the Olkari to accept this deal, as our species have… a past.”

 _So they want a favor_ , thinks Keith. He crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow as the Injini explain themselves.

“We are honoring the compromise we acquired with the Coalition when they helped us contain a Galra attack, who tried to steal from us and make us disappear after betraying our trust. We can give you what you need to build your project, but in exchange, we would like to require your… intervention, to ask the Olkari to lend us their abilities for one of our own projects. In the past, they have repeatedly refused to cooperate with us. We believe you, princess Allura, could have better luck.”

“That is—” Allura is unsure, but Pidge intervenes.

“That depends on what you want from them. I bet they have their reasons to refuse anyway,” she says, frowning. Though Keith agrees, he softly steps on her foot. Shiro’s wellbeing, as well as their chances to get to Earth, were at stake this time.

The Injini, however, don’t even blink.

“Our cultures have discrepancies in their concept of ‘progress’ and that has gotten in the way of a possible alliance many times before. But now, our civilizations have reached a point in their evolution where there is no reason to refuse mutual aid. However, if not even Team Voltron can convince them… then maybe they are not as advanced as they claim to be.”

Keith can almost see smoke coming out of Pidge’s ears. Lance, aware of this fact, puts a warning hand in her shoulder.

“And what if we can’t convince them?” he asks.

“For now, we do not consider that possibility. But rest assured, everything is ready for paladin Shiro’s project.”

It’s shady business and Keith really wishes he could tell them to take their conditions and shove them wherever they want –or can—, but he bites his tongue while Allura, reluctantly, promises their cooperation. Once the Injini retire from the base, though, the team explodes in complaints.

“So, nice people, huh? Very charming,” says Hunk, shaking his head.

“ _Quiznackin’_ mercenaries…” grumbles Coran, just when the door slides open.

“So how did it go?” asks Matt Holt, coming inside the meeting room with a malicious smile.

“You were right,” admits Keith. “What a bunch of stuck up pricks.”

“See? See? Told ya. Well, what did they want?”

After the explanation, Matt is outraged.

“They have the _nerve_ to ask for favors after what we did for them? I swear sometimes I wish the Galra just robbed them blind…”

“We will have to split up. I think the best course of action is for me to go ask the Olkari personally for help. That way, we can also start working in the teludav immediately,” says Allura.

“Indeed. We need our engineers with us, though. We need to polish the design of a portable version of the teludav, so it will allow us to travel back and forth without the Castle…” says Coran, looking at Pidge and Hunk.

“But I’m helping with Shiro’s arm,” argues Pidge.

“Well then, I’m coming with you and see what I can do for now,” offers Hunk.

“Good. Coran, Romelle and Hunk will come with me, while Pidge and Matt stay here to work on Shiro’s arm. Keith…”

Shit. He knows what he should do, but…

“I’d like to stay unless you really need me there,” declares Keith. Of course he’d rather stay with Shiro, but as the black paladin, he also knows that the right thing to do is probably going with Allura. He looks at Shiro to see if he disapproves, but before anyone says anything, Lance raises his voice.

“Wait! I’ll go with you instead. To… to Olkarion.”

Allura seems a bit taken aback. Keith looks at him astonished like the rest of the team, but for some strange reason, he feels that Lance is purposely ignoring _him_. However, after that uncomfortable pause, the boy clears his throat and puts on a wide smile, now speaking louder.

“Yeah! Take me, you won’t regret it. I bet I can soften the Olkari with my diplomatic skills in case they get a bit too stubborn. Leave it to me, Princess.”

“You should already know that pickup lines don’t work with them though,” suggests Pidge, a bit bitter. The Olkari are her favorites, after all.

“But I’ve expanded my repertory since our last visit, Pidgey. Don’t underestimate me,” answers Lance, winking at her.

It’s an act. Keith knows that deep down that confidence show is just an act, but the boiling lava filling his stomach is refusing to obey whatever his head is trying to explain, because… Lance wanted to go with Allura that bad, huh? Following her to Olkarion, even though he probably has little to do there…

The lava inside him is gurgling. He presses his lips, trying to stop thinking about it. He fails. Allura finally agrees and they all stand up to get ready for their new plans, but Keith stays in his seat, fuming.

 _Well, suit yourself then, works for me,_ he concludes in his head, watching Lance join the diplomatic party and leave without even sparing a glance at him, going out to prepare before taking off again as soon as possible. Olkarion is just a few hours away with the Lions, but they have to speak with the Injini again before leaving.

A bit shaken by the sudden change of plans, Keith struggles to go back to reality. He hears Shiro apologizing beside him.

“I’m sorry, Pidge. If you don’t want to stay maybe you can just leave it to the guys…”

“Of course not, Shiro. No offense, but this project is my baby,” she answers, smiling warmly at Shiro and leaving behind all traces of bitterness. Keith knows she cares deeply about him, and that helps to appease his bad humor. He’s staying, after all, that’s what he wanted.

“Alright then, let’s get to business! Shiro, come meet the guys who’ll help us!” says Matt, signaling the door.

“Right. You said you had a surprise for me? An expert or something?” asks Shiro.

“That’s right. Let’s go!”

Everyone scatters, but Keith stops in the hall where Krolia and Cosmo are waiting.

“So, they are heading to Olkarion right now?” she asks.

“Yeah, you heard?” asks Keith, patting Cosmo’s head and crouching by his side.

“A bit. Coran tried to explain, but he was a bit too agitated to make sense. He grabbed Romelle and left,” comments Krolia. Keith snorts.

“Yeah. These guys are real assholes, can’t blame him.”

“Also, Lance stopped by to say goodbye to me and Cosmo. He has been whimpering for a while. Looks like he really took a liking to that boy…”

Keith stops scratching his wolf, who isn’t having it, asking for more rubs with proud nuzzles, but Keith ignores him and stands up again, letting out an irritated exhalation.

“I wonder why,” he says. The shadow of a smile appears in Krolia’s lips.

“He is still here. If you want him to stay, you still can go and say so.”

Keith looks at her and sees that the smile is still there, but her eyes are serious and, as always, are trying to say way more than her words. But that somehow makes him feel even more irritated.

“No. He said he wanted to go with Allura, and it has nothing to do with me.”

He’s being harsher than he should, but instead of apologizing, he just turns on his heels and walks fast to the lab room where the rest of the guys headed before.

His thoughts are a mess. He is overreacting and behaving stupidly, and he must stop. He is so conflicted that he barely bats an eyelid when he finds Shiro being awkwardly examined by none other than Slav.

So that was Matt’s surprise expert. The nervous alien hasn’t changed a bit during all this time and is ranting non-stop about how Shiro is such an anomaly in the time conundrum, defying all probabilities in this reality again and again to Slav’s absolute terror. Shiro’s smile is so forced it should be comical, but instead, Keith looks out the window in time to see the Blue, Yellow and Red Lions departing, and he is only left with a mix of anger and confusion.

* * *

 

The talks with the Olkari go well. The third day, Allura informs them that they finally agreed to cooperate with the Injini to secure their help, though they are pretty sure they will try to take more than they give in the deal, so they ask the Coalition to meddle in case the Injini try to abuse their abilities like, according to them, had happened before. Allura guarantees this time it will be different. They are, like Lance had said before, the heart of the Coalition, after all.

And speaking of Lance, Keith notices the red paladin is notoriously absent from the communications, making his humor drop from bad to… rotten.

It’s been three boring, long, awful days. He’s happy that Shiro’s treatment is going well, but that’s it. Not only is the place ugly and absolute lacking in nature, but Keith suddenly finds himself with nothing to do, roaming with Cosmo through the base and trying not to stick that much to Shiro and Krolia.

What the hell did he do before to be occupied? Train, maybe. But now that he’ll have to train by himself, he isn’t into it that much, swinging his sword without enthusiasm, feeling dumb. Talk? He never was that much of a talker, usually trying to keep to himself, but now he’s gotten used to always have someone to speak to if he felt like it, just when everyone is doing their own thing… Everything feels tasteless, plain and boring, and that’s so humiliating because, deep down, he suspects that he wouldn’t be half as bored if he had the company of a certain paladin during these lazy hours. And that’s driving him mad.

Having time makes you think. He knows that, because he spent two years meditating over every single detail of his life in that space whale, and the experience was good. He had Krolia, and he still has her. But this time it’s not the same. He doesn’t want to think anymore if his stupid brain is going to fixate on Lance. And it’s inevitable when he realizes that, actually, this may be how he has been feeling for who knows how long. When he remembers his pained face in that bed telling him that he couldn’t find his place on the team, asking him to please take him home…

His stomach hurts. They are about to reach Earth and Lance could be leaving forever. And if Lance leaves… is he seriously going to feel this way the whole time?

“Keith, I hate to insist but… are you sure you’re feeling well?” asks Shiro, worried.

Keith flinches. He is in the room where Shiro rests between the long hours of surgery and installation, after having to exercise his pained muscles and nerves while he gets accustomed to the new advanced neuronal response the team is struggling to accomplish. Keith is visiting and snaps out of his trance, angry at himself. He came exactly to not think about these things anymore.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine,” he mutters, not convincing at all.

“Are you sleeping well?” asks Shiro. Keith looks at him, too surprised to lie.

“Uh… no. To be honest, no,” he sighs, shaking his head. “But it’s just because I’m tired. It’s… nothing serious.”

Shiro makes a pause. Then, with guilty eyes, he asks:

“Is it my fault?”

“Wha— No! It’s not!” says Keith, raising his voice. Honestly, his nightmares about their awful battle were less frequent now. Instead, his insomnia was kicking his ass, and that wasn’t Shiro’s fault.

“Are you sure?” asks Shiro, still looking sad. No matter how many times Keith said he didn’t take his words –the clone’s words— to heart, Shiro is still not convinced.

“Yeah! Besides, aren’t you the one having nightmares now?” Keith lets out, and then covers his mouth. Ashamed, he adds: “Sorry. Didn’t mean to pry.”

Shiro is surprised, but then he smiles bitterly.

“No, I knew you could have noticed. Sorry. Yeah, I’m having a lot of nightmares. I thought they’d get better, but instead…” he sighs, looking at his incomplete new arm, “honestly, I’m having new ones.”

“What do you mean?” asks Keith.

“I used to dream about things that have happened to me. I have a pretty nice selection of horror movies by now,” he says, grinning with bitterness. “But lately, I have a new recurring dream about something the… the clone saw.”

“The clone…?” repeats Keith, in a low voice.

“Yeah. It’s a lion. A white one. I’m in a place similar to the astral plane, just… floating. Then, a huge white lion comes out of nowhere and tries to make me his dinner…” Shiro laughs. “What do you think it means? Am I going to win the lottery or something?”

Keith snickers.

“In space? No. But I think you should tell Allura. Maybe it means something, didn’t she see a white lion in that place she visited with Lotor?” he says, recalling the story the team had told him.

“Yeah… but that’s why I don’t know if I should tell her. She’s having a rough time, maybe I shouldn’t bother her with a dumb nightmare that might bring back bad memories for her,” explains Shiro. Keith frowns.

“After all you’ve been through, I hardly think this is just some dumb nightmare, Shiro. We’ve seen enough shit already to know that nothing happens just because. You should tell Allura. I think she’d want to know, and maybe she can help you. You need to rest…” he mumbles, crossing his arms.

Shiro blinks twice. Then grabs his shoulder and shakes it like every time he’s proud of him.

“Look at you, that’s some solid advice…” he smiles with all his heart, looking suddenly younger. “Thanks, Keith. Guess I’ve been overthinking… everything, lately. But you’re right. I’ll speak to her when she’s back.”

Keith nods and just then, Matt and two aliens open the door to check on Shiro’s daily progress. Not willing to get in the way, Keith goes out and searches for something else to do.

His feet take him to the lounge, and when the door slides open, he looks inside surprised. It has been a while since the last one, but he is seeing one of his Quantum Abyss visions again.

In the middle of the room are couches and in one of them, Pidge is furiously typing in her keyboard. It’s still surprising how mundane some of his future visions were, compared to others. He saw his fight against Shiro, and also Ruvza in the corner of that dark medical facility. Now, he just sees his shortest friend in what seems to be a fight with her favorite machine, for no apparent reason. In his vision, he got closer to her and they spoke of something he doesn’t remember.

But his treacherous mind wanders to that vision he deemed mundane once too and now is a source of increasing dread. A beach and a boy, expressionless and quiet. When would that one happen…?

His silence catches Pidge’s attention, who raises her eyes from her work to see who’s at the door and notices him just standing there, looking silly.

“Keith? What’s up?”

“Hey, Pidge,” he steps forward and sits in the other end of her couch. He crosses a leg and watches Pidge type for a while until she stops and looks at him with curiosity.

“Uhm, I don’t mind the company but, just to know. Do you need something Keith, or are you just… chillin’?”

“Oh, no, I don’t need anything… I’m just—”

“Bored as hell. Gotcha.” She completes the phrase in his place, and Keith laughs.

“To be honest… yeah.”

“I see. Well, no prob, though sorry in advance if I stay quiet for too long. Just talk to me.”

“Okay.”

Pidge types again and Keith observes her for a while, a bit envious of the energy she puts into what she’s doing. It’d be nice to share her interest in technology… Distracted, he takes a while to notice that Pidge is grinning to herself. He knows that malicious smile, but still he never expected the sudden question that followed.

“So, missing Lance already?”

He almost slides to the floor. His legs uncross too violently, and he sees Pidge chuckle at it, feeling his cheeks heating.

“I— What are you even—”

“Aw, Keith, it’s ok. I mean, you know how Hunk and I are team Punk? Well, you two can be, I don’t know… team Klance, I guess?”

“What does that even mean,” says Keith, stunned.

“We are all friends, but let’s be honest. You always need a buddy to keep up with you. In fact…” Pidge sets her screen to her side and rocks over the couch with her legs crossed and a new guilty face, “Hunk and me were worried that we may have been neglecting Lance a bit. After what happened in Ireti and what Matt said, you know… we really considered it.”

“So?” asks Keith, because he hasn’t noticed that much of a change.

“Well, we decided to be less… uh, smartasses? In front of him. We really did, but then we realized that he’s the one who isn’t paying much attention to us now… no, I’m not complaining,” Pidge insists, looking at Keith, who is frowning, “it’s fine! It’s good, because he’s having a good time. We are actually happy for him.”

“Having a good time…” mutters Keith. That was one way to see it from outside. Too bad he knows more than he’d like and can’t really appreciate it, but Pidge groans.

“I’m saying it’s thanks to YOU, dummy. He’s having fun with YOU. You’re his buddy.”

“I… you really think that?” asks Keith, trying to control his ridiculous tendency to blush.

Pidge looks at the ceiling like summoning the god of patience.

“Yeah? It’s pretty obvious? Since you came back, he’s looking so well. Even after the heartbreak and the illness… in fact, I think he’s a bit _too_ well now. But hey, better that way.”

She stretches and grabs her equipment again, but Keith is pondering… how dumb would it be to ask Pidge about this whole heartbreak deal? He’s never been into gossip, but he has been building the picture with fragments of info and comments here and there and now would like to know the entire story… out mere interest in the team, of course…

Pidge’s voice sounds again over her typing.

“Honestly? We’re relieved. For a second there we really feared…” she bites her lower lip and looks at Keith. “We really feared he’d do something stupid.”

The black paladin freezes. He quickly corrects his face before Pidge notices, to not show his surprise. So, the crew _wasn’t_ blind, after all… good to know, but he has a promise to keep. Instead of asking what she means, he tries to play it down.

“He just had a rough time. That’s all.”

“Yup, and we’re glad that’s done. Don’t tell him I told you this, but… we really love the guy. Numbskull and all.”

Keith snorts. Another thing to remind Lance if he ever doubts again of how well loved he is by the team. Shiro does too… and also Allura.

His arms suddenly cross over his chest at the thought.

“Well, I bet he’s having fun now. He got what he wanted there,” he rants, without thinking too much.

“What’s that?” asks Pidge, raising an eyebrow. Keith blushes a bit.

“I-I mean. He’s with Allura there, in Olkarion… bet he’s doing just fine.”

Pidge makes a long, dramatic pause, to blink twice, take her glasses, clean them, put them on again and slap the couch with one hand.

“Excuse me? You’re joking, right? I think it’s kinda obvious to everyone that he volunteered to go just so you could stay here with Shiro, so… I repeat: you’re joking, right?”

“What…?” Keith can’t hide his surprise. He didn’t consider it like that, in all his sudden rage, but now that he thinks about it... the timing of the offer…

 Pidge lets out the most irritated sigh she can, before scooting closer to him.

“This is ridiculous. I can’t believe it.”

“What?” Keith raises his eyebrows at Pidge when she sits right by his side.

“No offense, Keith, but you’re a numbskull too, so let’s ask him directly. It’s about time for a report, anyway…”

“What? Pidge, don’t…”

Keith can’t stop her, and he prays that Hunk takes the call. But, as always, he never gets what he wants. The screen changes and shows Lance’s face, who is smiling widely.

“Hey! Perfect timing, Pidge! I’ve got juicy news tod—” the red paladin interrupts himself when he sees Keith there. “Oh. OH, h-hey Keith.”

“Hi,” answers Keith, putting his best neutral face. Lance blinks, looking confused.

“Hello. And the news…?” asks Pidge, rolling her eyes.

“Oh… Oh! Yeah! We were about to call you guys. We’re going back to Kara-tur.”

“Really? Why so soon?” asks Pidge. Keith feels his stomach doing a backflip.

“Because the Injini and the Olkari are going to sign a peace treaty and to do so, they wanna throw a party or something. But of course, the Injini demanded it has to be _there_.” Lance blows air in disdain. “As if they were _so_ entertaining. I bet their parties suck.”

“A party? What does that mean?” asks Keith, confused.

“Excuse me, leader, are you seriously asking what’s a party?” taunts Lance.

“I know what’s a party,” growls Keith, “but these are aliens. Weird aliens. What are they planning to do?”

“No idea, honestly. That’s why we’re going back with a small delegation of Olkari. Besides, the Injini will send the materials only after the treaty, so no more work for us until then…”

“’ _Us_ ’ sounds like a lot of people, Lance,” teases Pidge, adjusting her glasses. Lance makes a face.

“Ha-ha. Joke’s on you, ‘cause I was the one who convinced Ryner to sign the treaty. Just ask Allura,” Lance puts his fingers on his chin, cheekily wiggling his eyebrows. “I told you I’d do it.”

Keith can’t help smiling. Even if he has been feeling down these past days and the main cause is right there on the screen, he is still glad to see him behaving like himself. However, Lance is suddenly blushing as he stands up from his seat in front of the screen.

“W-well, that’s the news. So, we’ll be back by tomorrow. Tell the rest, okay? Okay, bye!”

“Wait, Lance!” Pidge says, but Lance cuts the communication. She exhales in irritation.

“Why is he like this.”

“No idea,” says Keith, still smiling. He stands up, feeling lighter, somehow. Maybe he can go and run a lap or two with Cosmo outside later?

“I’m going to tell the guys,” he announces. Pidge watches him leave with a raised eyebrow and Keith is sure he heard her say something similar to “dorks!” when he leaves the room.

* * *

 

When the team reunites again, Keith doesn’t get to be glad about it more than a few minutes before another meeting happens, this time with Olkari and Injini delegations staring daggers at each other.

He is sitting between Shiro and Lance and is very aware of the presence of the red paladin. He still can feel the same stiff and awkward vibe he got from him when they greeted each other before. However, when the reunion drags for half an hour, still discussing the basic terms of the treaty and Keith starts feeling his eyes heavy, a sudden tap on his arm startles him. An orange screen appears near his thigh. He blinks, confused, and follows the arm holding it until he finds Lance looking at him, moving his eyes to show the screen again. Keith squints and discovers a grid with a circle in one of the squares.

It’s a tic tac toe game. He shots an unfazed look at Lance, who opens his eyes and moves the screen, asking him to play. At such childish behavior, Keith feels his stiffness melting as he presses his lips to stop himself from laughing. The meeting sucks, anyway… Surreptitiously, he looks around and verifies that no one is looking their way, the discussion heating on the other side of the table. With a finger, he draws an X in the center square. Lance holds the device with his strong hand –the left one—, and draws another circle with his right, barely moving. Keith puts another X. They continue until Lance traces a line over three circles and clenches his right fist in celebration.

 _‘Oh, it’s on’,_ thinks Keith, drawing a new grid by himself now and resolutely putting an X in the top corner.

He doesn’t let Lance win again and the red paladin is starting to grunt under his breath every time he loses. This innocent interaction has given them more adrenaline than the entire last month, and as a result, Keith is so happily distracted that doesn’t even notice they are talking to him until Shiro hits him with his elbow.

He looks around and, horrified, discovers all eyes on him.

“S-sorry, what?” asks Keith, flushing.

“We said the opening dance should be performed by the princess and the black paladin,” repeats one of the eldest members of the Injini delegation.

Hello? What opening dance? Weren’t they discussing a treaty? And… did they just say dance and black paladin in the same phrase?

“Are you… are you implying I have to dance?” stutters Keith, feeling all blood leaving his face and going to his feet.

“As we have been discussing during the last hour,” says the same Injini in a severe tone, “we want this celebration to be perfect. If we want it to be broadcasted, then we must put a good show.”

“ _Broadcasted_?” asks Keith, now in utter horror.

“Is it really necessary? I mean, we were trying to go undercover until now…” intervenes Hunk.

“If you’re trying to go as far as Earth, you should fool the Galra making them believe you’re somewhere else. And now that our alliance with the Injini will help secure this system with the new towers, we’ll be the most prepared to contain them in case they try to follow you,” explains Ryner, leader of the Olkari.

Right, the Injini were asking for the Olkari’s cooperation to build a huge tower to defend themselves, but the Olkari agreed only if they were willing to replicate it in the rest of the colonies of the system, Keith recalls. Sounds like a good idea, in fact, but his mind is fixed on the first part of the conversation.

“Excuse me, but what is all this about a dance…” Keith starts saying, but Allura rushes to explain.

“Keith, like _we were just discussing_ ,” she says, looking at him with murderous eyes, “the Injini have decided to throw a traditional celebration in five days. We will attend too, and other important leaders from the Coalition will come. As such, they expect us to… uhm, show our leadership by opening the dance…”

“B-but…”

“Paladin Shiro said so himself the other day,” says one of the members of the Triumvirate, who are there too, “you are the current black paladin. We are sure this will be no difficulty for you after everything Voltron has done,” the Injini laughs in a disgusting way. “This is the nicest part of the duties of a leader.”

“I pilot the Black Lion, that’s my duty. It doesn’t have anything to do with fancy parties…” Keith is ready to burst and the rest of the team, sensing the danger, try to intervene at the same time.

“Does he really have to do it?”

“C’mon, why don’t you open the dance with the Injini and Olkari doing choreography or something…?”

“It’s really not necessary…”

“And what if— uh, what if I do it, instead?”

Everyone shut up and look at Lance, who is timidly pointing at himself. His cheeks are red, but he tries again.

“Y-yeah. I mean, I don’t have any problem with that… as you may recall from our show…”

Keith feels a balloon of hope and gratefulness growing in his chest, but then it starts slowly deflating when he sees that Lance is begging Allura with his eyes. It’s like a deja vu from days ago, when he chose to go with her, and the dormant lava is heating again in his abdomen, even under these circumstances. The princess seems to be considering it, but then one of the Injini speaks.

“No. Everyone knows you from that show, and we all know you could never be the black paladin. No one would believe it.”

Silence in the room, but a true storm in Keith’s head. He doesn’t remember the last time he felt this blind rage. That is so unbelievably rude that he hits the table with his fists without thinking twice and raises his voice.

“Oh yeah? So you watch one fake show and think you can judge us? You didn’t even know which one of us was the black paladin before. It could perfectly have been Lance, and I bet you wouldn’t be disrespecting him like this in that case.”

“Keith…” mutters Lance, absolutely astonished.

“That… that does not change anything,” says the Injini, grabbing his cape while the rest of his delegation moves in their seats, uncomfortable, “we have protocols and traditions you promised to respect. You agreed to do this under our terms. This is nothing compared to the efforts we are making for this alliance to work… is Voltron’s will this weak?”

Keith wants to scream _‘to hell with your damn protocols!’_ , but he feels the cold and firm hand of Shiro in his left shoulder. The former leader is pleading at him with his eyes and jerking his head towards the rest of the team. Keith looks around. His fellow paladins are watching him expectantly and scared.

If he says no to their stupid, absurd, absolutely ridiculous conditions, the Injini, being the assholes they are, can perfectly retreat from the alliance. And it’s just after this stupid reunion they would be sending the materials to Olkarion, meaning they wouldn’t have a teludav in who knows how long if he blows this up. His hands shake in frustration when he decides to speak up.

“Al… alright. I’ll do it...”

He can feel the entire room sigh in relief.

“But with one condition.”

Everyone holds their breaths again. Keith looks furious at Allura, then at the Injini.

“You owe an apology to the red paladin.”

“Keith, this isn’t necessary…” mutters Lance, completely flushed.

“Of course. We apologize for this misunderstanding, paladin Lance,” says the Injini, with zero interest or regret. “Now, let us discuss the rest of the details. We have little time to organize this, but luckily we Injini are proud of our great organization and work ethics…”

Keith isn’t listening anymore, looking at the table with furious eyes. After a few minutes, however, a soft tap on his right makes him come back to reality.

An orange screen is near his thigh again. He looks at it and feels his heart less heavy.

In a round, shaky calligraphy, it’s written ‘ _Thank you, leader’_. Keith smiles at it and just raises a thumb under the table, without looking at him, though on the corner of his eye he catches Lance subtle smile.

At least one of the members of the team isn’t going to try and break his neck after this damn meeting is over.

* * *

 

“I can’t do this.”

“That’s not the attitude, Keith…” says Allura, shaking her head.

“I’d rather die,” declares Keith, crossing his arms.

“Now, now, the emo is showing,” taunts Lance, making Keith growl.

It’s the next day after the meeting, and four days to go before the dance. Lance spent a whole day learning about the Injini traditional dances to help Allura and Keith with them. The music is, contrary to the entire Injini race, uplifting and soft, easy to follow. They won’t be performing anything fancy: the Injini were satisfied with them waltzing a slow paced song to show the universe they’re there, but Keith has never danced before in his entire life and he never imagined this could happen to him. Much less in space.

“You’ve got this, just watch. Allura, let’s try first,” says Lance, turning the music on and grabbing her by the hand and waist. They take a few moments to discuss the correct way of proceeding and then start moving.

Of course Allura would be good at this, she’s a princess, thinks Keith bitterly, watching her beautiful form, looking like she was made to be held by Lance that way. But to her bad luck, the one who’ll have to guide her is the one sitting there grumbling, very concerned about the number of times he could possibly step on her feet or, in a twisted turn of events, make her trip. Or both of them trip and fall. Maybe they both die in the fall too. With an explosion.

He has zero chances of doing what Lance is doing, moving softly and rhythmically at a constant pace while he counts out loud “1, 2, 3, stop, 1, 2, 3, stop, 1, 2, 3, spin!” and he just lets out the most discouraged sigh ever. Allura and Lance stop their practice and observe him.

“C’mon dude, I’m sure you’ve got this…” says Lance, trying to appease him.

“Are you crazy? I’ve never danced in my life,” argues Keith, hiding his face between his knees.

“DUDE. My pal. Are you seriously saying this when we’ve seen you swinging that sword around like you’re on zero gravity?” asks Lance, crossing his arms with a side smile.

“It’s got nothing to do with this!” replies Keith, but Allura chuckles.

“Keith, it’s even _easier_ than that. Lance has a point, you have wonderful reflexes and light feet. You can absolutely do this.” 

He raises his eyes at them, both bending his way and looking at him with enthusiastic eyes. Maybe because hearing them agree, looking all shiny and confident next to each other hits him hard, but his rage slowly dies down and turns into mere discouragement. He sighs again.

Allura decides not to insist. After practicing with Lance for a while longer, she excuses herself to go, patting Lance’s shoulder and begging him with her eyes to do something. Lance nods, and Keith watches her leave the room they’ve been using.

Lance sits by his side in the floor.

“Hey man, it’s really not that hard. You just gotta forget about the rest and enjoy it, for real.”

Keith shoots a killer glance his way.

“Bet you enjoyed it, alright,” he mumbles, almost inaudible.

“What’s that?” asks Lance, who didn’t hear.

“Nothing. I can’t, that’s all.”

“Keith. You passed the Marmora trials, you lived two years in a _quiznackin’_ alien whale and survived… and you’re telling me that dancing for two minutes is too much for you?” asks Lance.

It’s NOT the same. Keith looks at him, involuntarily pouting. That makes Lance snicker.

“Alright, enough. Now it’s just the two of us here, we are gonna practice. C’mon, stand up.”

“Lance, I really—”

“Ah-ah-ah! Don’t wanna hear it. C’mon, were you always such a chicken or what? Uhhh what’s that? Afraid you can’t match my godly skills? Can’t blame ya, though…” he says, trying to antagonize him as always, shutting his protests.

It’s a poor attempt of provocation and it totally shouldn’t work, because Keith knows for a fact that this time he REALLY can’t surpass Lance, but that voice and that challenge are making something burn near his chest. Why is he so weak to this guy who’s just standing there with a cheeky attitude is still… a mystery to him. He unwillingly raises from the ground and gets close to Lance.

Their heights are almost the same, Keith just an inch taller or so, but he clearly sees Lance gulp and look flustered for some reason. It’s contagious, he thinks, feeling his stomach taut.

“O-okay, then. I’ll be Allura. You just put one hand here…” Lance guides Keith’s hand to his waist, “and the other here.”

The contact is warm, and Keith is trying to breathe normally, absolutely confused by why this touch is so shocking and sends shivers all over his arms. Their hands are joined and then they just awkwardly stand there for a while, Keith a bit stunned at the realization that he hasn’t looked at Lance this close… ever, maybe. Not on purpose, at least. Not since he carried him to a healing pod, like a century ago, and also felt a tingly sensation in his stomach, only to be murdered by Lance’s attitude later.

He clears his throat, wondering what’s gotten into him all of a sudden, remembering such old, dumb things.

“So… what now?” he asks, trying to not let his hand transmit his nerves.

“Ah, uh… yeah. So, this is all about tempo. You count and move, that’s all. You saw me with Allura, let’s try it… okay here we go, 5, 6, 7, 8…”

Keith tries to awkwardly follow his movements, but his feet can’t quite catch the tempo like Lance wants. He expected to be cruelly mocked and humilliated by him, a golden oportunity to get the upper hand. However, every time he tries to stop and rush out in panic, Lance just pulls him back by their joined hand and forces him to concentrate and forget the last mistake, without a single comment about it, not a single joke nor taunt. After an hour of this, Keith starts getting the rhythm. In his head, he understands what he must do, but convincing his feet to obey is the hard part, though he’s getting better.

“That’s great, dude, you’ve got it! Just don’t rush it, you have to always follow Allura’s pace, like this…”

They continue trying for what feels like hours and Keith vaguely wonders how the hell he ended up holding Lance McClain like an alien princess while waltzing in an empty room in this ugly planet, giving him the juiciest blackmail material his 'rival' could have ever dreamed of, probably. If his Quantum Abyss visions showed him this in front of Krolia, he’d have died of embarrassment.

Remembering he is going to be observed by galaxies of people and his mom makes him suddenly lose coordination and he trips and pulls Lance’s arm with way too much strength, making him grunt.

“S-sorry, you okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” says Lance, rubbing his arm, “what happened there?”

“I’m… I remembered this is going to be broadcasted…” confesses Keith. Lance sighs.

“Man. To think your only weakness was public opinion..." Lance's shit-eating face is irritating, but he pats his shoulder blades in support. "Nah, I know it seems terrible, but you won’t even realize they’re watching you. Besides…”

Lance is smiling sincerely now, and his fond eyes make Keith’s insides churn _again_.

“You stood up for me in a room full of alien leaders. I think you are the opposite of shy, so… relax, okay? It’ll be done quick.”

Keith knows his cheeks must be red, so he covers his face with one of his hands, rubbing his chin.

“Fine.”

“There. Then, one last try and we call it a day?” proposes Lance, offering his hand again. Keith breathes in and out.

“Okay.”

* * *

 

Shiro’s arm is complete, and the Holts are absolutely delighted with their work, or at least the part they played in it. The ex-leader is looking better and stronger than the last months, his renewed will to help shining through everything else. The team considers this important enough to have a party, so they decide, in their private talks, that they are taking tonight’s party like Shiro’s celebration instead of some sketchy political move by the shitty Injini, whom they hate more and more each passing day.

Tonight is the night and they are called early to prepare for it. The Injini, in their usual pushy way, send people to help them look just the way they want them to look. The paladins would wear their armors instead of the stiff, elegant clothes in the style of the Triumvirate that the rest would be forced to wear. The catch? The Injini demanded that each paladin had to wear their proper Lion color to avoid any confusion, gifting them five elegant capes and brooches to match them.

That meant that Keith was being forced to wear the black armor, giving his own armor to Lance, who would have to give his to Allura in turn. This called an awkward exchange when they separated to prepare in their rooms.

While Krolia helps him to finish putting on the obligatory cape and brooch, Keith looks down and feels awful. He never wished to wear Shiro’s armor. It’s like stripping him from his right to consider himself a paladin, and it… hurts. Krolia notices his face and speaks in a soft tone.

“It’s just a one-time show. Don’t overthink it.”

Keith shrugs at his mother. She is also wearing the clothes they forced them to put, and though she looks beautiful and intimidating as always, it feels really weird after so long seeing her in her Marmora suit. He vaguely wonders how she would look in elegant human clothes, not like the ones she wore in the past visions, but just then she steps back to look at the final product and smiles.

“Handsome,” she declares, with pride.

Keith turns and looks at the huge mirror behind him. He’s just like always, but the heavy black cape with pompous golden embroidery hanging behind him adds an extra touch he considers absolutely unnecessary and stupid. The cape crosses the front too, where one tip goes to the right shoulder and is pinned to the other border by a brilliant brooch, in the Injini style, with the emblem of Voltron.

“This is ridiculous,” mumbles Keith, checking if he can even move with the extra weight. He feels stiff and uncomfortable, and he wonders how the rest is doing.

An ice cube descends from his chest to his belly when he remembers that, right now, Lance is putting on _his_ armor. The face Lance had when he received the pieces from Keith’s hands that morning was quite…

A pull in his hair makes him wince and complain. Krolia is trying to see if she can do something about her son’s unruly hair.

“Stop that, Krolia!”

“I had to try… though I know since you’re born this battle is lost…”

“Then leave me alone!” says Keith, blushing. This is so dumb. This entire night is pure torture for him.

Krolia chuckles and then caresses his cheek with uncommon softness, taking him by surprise.

“You’ll do great. Just enjoy it and forget about the rest.”

Lance said the same, but he is so nervous his hands sweat under the flight suit. These last days he practiced, and he grasped the basics of what he has to do but performing in front of people is still… well, the absolute worst.

But he is wearing Shiro’s armor, so making a fool of himself isn’t an option, he thinks, commanding Cosmo to stay in the room and heading out to reunite with the rest of the paladins in the lounge, to later be taken where the party is taking place.

When he arrives, an “ooooh” receives him. Everyone, including Lance, is there except for Allura. Keith’s eyes quickly travel to him and he stands in the door for three seconds before remembering how to move.

The red paladin is wearing the correspondent armor and the image makes noise in Keith’s mind as if a piece of a puzzle didn’t quite fit, missing the blue. However, he still pulls off the look: the red cape behind him gives him a royal appearance and, to his dismay, he even combed his hair differently, provoking a riot in his insides. He… he didn’t sign up for this…

“Looking great, Keith!” says Hunk, wearing a heavy yellow cape with tribal ornaments, different from his, but with the same brooch holding it. He also had gotten rid of his bandana.

“T-thanks. Are you all ready?”

“Yeah, just waiting for Coran, Romelle and Allura,” says Pidge, wearing her armor and trying to accommodate the brooch over her wavy, light green cape, considerably smaller than the rest, made of a delicate fabric. Her brother comes to the rescue, arranging the pin in the right place.

Matt and Shiro are wearing similar clothes to Krolia, and they also have capes to wear. It seems to be part of the protocol, though theirs aren’t as fancy as the ones the paladins are sporting. Shiro smiles wide at the view, getting close to Keith with a fake critical pose.

“Fits like a gauntlet,” he declares. Then he slaps Keith’s shoulder, happy. “I knew it’d look great on you.”

Keith tries to smile back, but it’s hard. He really is uncomfortable in this armor, while Shiro is just wearing the formal clothes the Injini gave them. Not that he looks bad on that, of course. His white hair in contrast to his elegant dark clothes makes him look like some kind of prince from a fairytale, but still… His eyes go back to Lance, who he expected to be flaunting the red armor, but instead, the boy is shyly trying to untangle the elegant red cape to make it flutter behind him with ease, in uncharacteristical silence.

The Alteans are the last ones to arrive, and everyone gasps at Allura’s appearance. She looks great in the blue armor, a beautiful blue and golden cape floating behind her like it was made of air, with a pointy end in an elegant cut. Her hair is tied up in a different way than usual, making all her gorgeous Altean traits stand out. By her side, Coran and Romelle are also wearing Injini clothes and capes. Keith glances at Lance. He looks astonished, as it’s to be expected, and Keith feels his mouth becoming a thin line.

“Everyone is here! Fantastic!” says Coran, walking around and doing one last round licking his thumb and combing eyebrows, bangs and sticking hairs everywhere, making the paladins groan. He even tries with Keith, though it doesn’t work.

“Well, guess this will have to do,” grumbles the Altean, giving up on Keith’s hair. “On the move, paladins!”

They walk to the transport and during the trip they remember that this is Shiro’s party for them, to which the former leader laughs and thanks them. He looks happy, thinks Keith, but he? Can’t even talk. Allura, sitting by his side, takes his hand.

“Don’t worry, we are going to do well,” she assures. Keith nods and looks to the front, where Lance is sitting. The red paladin is watching the scene and, startled, nods quickly to support Allura’s words. But Keith notices he isn’t saying a word either, which is quite eerie in its own way.

As soon as they step into the room, the crowd inside the place roars, making the sound bounce all over the great hall. The party is taking place in an elegant palace of some sort, apparently house of the Triumvirate, and to celebrate the alliance, the Olkari put here and there some of their own architecture and decoration. The tall metallic columns look less dead with shining vines crawling over them, and the room has big windows that lead to many small fake gardens outside. Golden light illuminates the place in a warm tone and Keith, for the second time on this planet, recognizes another Quantum Abyss vision. It wasn’t from this angle, but he definitely saw this room and the weird clothes, now that he recalls. To think he could have prevented this awful moment, if only the vision was clearer…

The paladins are separated from the rest of the team and escorted to a tall table where the Injini and Olkari leaders are sitting too.

Speeches, food, and chitchat go by unnoticed for Keith, who is starting to feel panic running through his veins as the moment of his death gets close. And when he sees that people are rearranging towards the corners of the salon, his jaw clenches. It’s time.

A hand pats his forearm. Lance, sitting by his side, is wiggling his eyebrows.

"Razzle dazzle time," he mutters. Winking, he adds: "don't blow it."

Keith can't even protest, because Allura is already standing up.

“Let’s go, Keith. It’ll be alright,” she mutters. He nods and doesn’t even dare to peek at his friends and mother, afraid of panicking at last moment.

Shuddering, he recalls all of their rehearsals. Allura had been patient with him, and Lance had done most of the work. This was just… just another session. Like training. Easier than training. He takes Allura’s hand.

“Good luck,” winks the princess, and he smiles weakly at her, while music starts playing.

They sway softly. He keeps counting, and it’s Lance’s voice in his mind: 1,2,3, stop. 1,2,3, stop. 1,2,3, spin…

“Great,” chuckles Allura, also gaining confidence and Keith smiles at her more relaxed. The song feels eternal though.

Finally, the music stops, and the entire room claps and cheers. Keith tries to run away immediately, but Allura grabs him.

“No, we must continue until people join in and then I’ll let you go. Let’s talk about something meanwhile, shall we?” she says, moving again. Keith sighs, but grabs Allura by the waist again.

“I’m so happy, Keith. Thank you for doing this,” she says, smiling sweetly.

“No offense, but I hope I don’t have to do it again,” mumbles Keith, making Allura giggle.

“I’m sure we will be too occupied for it, at least for a while,” she answers.

“I hope so,” says Keith. They spin, Keith having less trouble counting in his head now that people are joining the floor around them.

“I wanted to thank you for the other day, too. For… defending Lance,” suddenly says Allura, and Keith almost loses the rhythm.

“Oh, uhm… sure?”

“I know you think I should have said something. To be honest, I was taken by surprise by that level of disrespect. But I’m glad you did it. Lance is an invaluable friend, and he deserves nothing but praise.”

If only Lance was listening to this. Keith feels words coming by themselves out of his mouth.

"Have you considered telling Lance that? He has been needing a little push now and then."

Allura stays quiet, moving her feet like it was nothing while thinking her answer.

"Every day,” she confesses. “But I don't know how to face him. He… he is a dear friend. And I don’t mean to hurt him."

“Hurt him? How?” asks Keith. Allura stays quiet. From some place in the center of his chest, he pushes out one last advice. “I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but if you care about him, tell him. He needs it. That way, he wouldn’t—"

He has to bite his own tongue to stop his words from escaping his mouth. Allura's eyes are questioning him.

“He wouldn’t what?” she inquires.

“He wouldn’t doubt it,” concludes Keith. Allura lowers her eyes, and the music stops again.

“You are right.” Looking around, she notices the red paladin nearby. She separates from Keith, smiling. “Maybe now is a good time?”

The princess separates from him winking and goes right to Lance, who is watching from the side. Keith sees his eyes open wide and his cheeks getting rosy, and can’t keep looking at the scene, walking like a robot to the place where the rest of the team is sitting. They clap at him when he approaches, startling him.

“Great job, Keith! What a heartthrob!” says Matt, applauding. Keith feels his face hot.

“Shut the hell up,” he growls.

“Dude, seriously, that was breathtaking!” agrees Hunk, Pidge snickering by his side.

“I knew you had it,” jokes Shiro. He handles him a glass of pink beverage. “I think you earned it. If Krolia approves…”

“I do,” says Krolia, and everyone laughs. Could this night get worse? Keith downs the glass in one sip.

“Oh, you may want to be careful!” says Coran, though he’s gulping on his own glass too, “you don’t want to miss the entire party, do you?”

 _Maybe I want just that_ , thinks Keith, looking at the dance floor again, where Allura and Lance are dancing and laughing as if the world belonged to them. He clenches the glass, while Hunk whistles at that scene.

“Well, well… maybe the armor shuffle is working?”

“Shut up, Hunk,” says Pidge, surprising everyone. She just sips on her own drink, but Keith feels her eyes on him.

“Alright, enough. We can’t stay here all night. Go dance or else the Injini are going to complain!” orders them Coran, trying to make them stand up. Romelle and Hunk sigh at the exact same time in resignation, but then Hunk offers his hand and they just head to the floor without a word. Everyone blinks.

“What the hell was that?” asks Matt, laughing at that strange combination.

“Guess you just need someone to hate on the world with,” says Pidge, shrugging, and Matt prods her.

“Aw don’t be sad. I can dance with you.”

“I’d rather dance with Cosmo than with you. Don’t be a nerd and go find someone!” yells Pidge, making her brother pout. But then, Shiro chuckles and offers his hand. Not to Pidge. To Matt.

“Let’s go, Matt.”

“Wh— what?!”

The eldest Holt is dragged to the floor by Shiro, who doesn’t even hesitate a moment. The crew blinks in mute surprise again, and then Coran adjusts his clothes, clearing his throat.

“Well then, I cannot be less! Mrs. Krolia, if you are not taken…”

“Coran, please,” says Krolia, shaking her head. Keith has to admire Coran’s bravery.

“It would be a true honor for me.” He is putting his elegant Altean manners to good use.

Keith can’t believe his eyes when Krolia, after looking at the Altean for a few seconds with impassible eyes, nods an accepts the invitation. Pidge and Keith are the only ones left, open mouthed.

“What did I just witness with my two eyes?” asks the girl, stunned.

“I… don’t even know…” answers Keith. This night is going right to the forbidden archives too, he can already tell. Looking at Pidge, he grins.

“If you want to dance…”

“No, thanks. But I bet you’re starving. You barely ate before, let’s go raid the table,” proposes Pidge with a malicious smile and Keith agrees, relieved. He even loses sight of Lance in the crowd, which is good. Very good.

He is feeling fine.

The night advances and Keith goes here and there. He catches Krolia and Romelle looking suspiciously at a blue liquid they finally decide to try anyway. Coran discussing something heatedly with Ryner and an Injini and Keith hopes he doesn’t ruin the treaty. Hunk in the table stuffing his face and inviting him to join him for a while. Overall, he’s having a great party. Shiro is nowhere to be seen, but he hopes he is also enjoying his celebration.

To his surprise, he finds Allura talking to a group of Injini and Lance is not with her. He frowns but decides it’s better that way. He only hopes their conversation went well and Lance isn’t in some corner crying instead of having fun.

Avoiding the crowd and holding one glass of something that tastes like wine, he steps out of the hall and finds himself in one of the fake gardens. It’s empty and is no wonder why. It’s not very pretty, too dark to appreciate the decoration, and not even a moon shines in the sky, opaque due to the yellowish fake atmosphere of Kara-tur. It doesn’t even smell like fresh air. Sighing, Keith supports his weight in the cold metal wall and drinks from his glass, noticing how tired he is. How long until they could go back?

“Found you! Why are you hiding here?”

Lance appears in the garden, blowing air and grabbing one end of his cape to dry his forehead with it. Keith, recovered from the surprise, looks at him unimpressed.

“Disgusting.”

“Shut up, it’s hot as hell there now that everyone’s dancing. Olkari music is way better, did you notice?”

“Not really,” says Keith, sipping from his glass with indifference, though his fingers are trembling a little. Lance tilts his head.

“What’s wrong? Are you mad at something?”

“No,” lies Keith, because he shouldn’t be mad at anything this fine night. But the burning in his… _everywhere,_ betrays this logic. Honestly, he’s only mad at himself, and he shouldn’t take it out on the rest.

Lance is fidgeting.

“Uhm. Well, just wanted to say you did great there.” His ears tint rose. “You uh... looked really cool.”

Keith coughs, choking on the liquid, and Lance laughs at him, getting closer to pat his back.

“Still bad at taking compliments, huh.”

“Shut up,” says Keith, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Lance smiles at him.

“Allura was all praise about you. You should be proud! You know she’s hard to please.”

“And you?” asks Keith, without thinking. “Are you proud she praised you?”

Lance’s face changes. He frowns and gives one step back.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” He really regrets drinking that last glass of whatever it was now.

“Don’t give me that, what is it? Did you…” Lance relaxes his eyebrows and his brilliant eyes meet Keith’s. His expression is serious. “Was it your idea?”

“What?” asks Keith, now genuinely confused.

“Allura, talking to me. Thanking me for everything. Was it your idea?” asks Lance, getting closer again.

“No,” says Keith, with honesty. “She wanted to talk to you. I told her she should, that’s all. No idea what she wanted to say.”

Lance bites the inside of his cheek, thinking. Keith is watching him through a weird golden mist he attributes to the drink, but now he can appreciate up close how good the red paladin looks, even tired and slightly sweaty, his hair starting to dishevel, the red cape over his armor, covering his shoulder in a regal way. It suits him. It suits him a lot.

 _K_ _eith’s armor_ , currently covering _Lance’s body_...

He feels electricity running through him. His heart is beating in his chest and right there, at that exact moment in that ugly place, a realization is coming to his mind even though he desperately wants to ignore it. Panic is spreading everywhere.

Lance’s eyes find his again, piercing blue.

“Why are you doing all this for me?”

Breathless, Keith tries to stick to the wall even more, to put some distance between then, in vain. Lance is too close, his eyes stubbornly fixed on his.

“I’m— I’m not doing anything…”

“Yes you are,” says Lance. “Since Ireti. You take me with you in our missions, you talk to the guys about me, train with me, even deal with my stupid ideas, I— why?”

Why, indeed. Keith has been asking himself the same for weeks now, unable to sleep well, but now he sees the answer is there, blatant. And he fears it. Because he’s been so calm and satisfied since he came back, that adding the weight of a new experience, a new feeling to discover is too much of a hassle, something he doesn’t want nor need now, much less when… when Lance is probably leaving…

His eyes go down.

“I’m not doing anything special. We are just… friends. We shook hands, remember?”

He’s not looking at Lance’s face, but the boy stays quiet for a few moments, before letting out an amused exhalation.

“You’re right,” he says, and Keith dares to raise his gaze again. Lance is looking at him with a strange expression that Keith can’t decipher. Then he offers his hand. “I’ve danced with everyone tonight, even Coran— yeah, don't ask. So… you’re the only one left.”

Keith observes his hand as if he is pointing him with a gun.

“No.”

“C’mon, don’t be stingy! I helped you with this, I deserve at least one dance, don’t I?”

Keith doubts, but then nods. He thinks that Lance is going to drag him inside, but instead, the boy takes him by the hands and starts moving in a different way from the original dance, the beats coming from the hall are new to Keith.

“This is Olkari music, it’s much faster and nice. Reminds me of home,” says Lance, moving his hips in a way that’s making Keith sweat.

“I don’t know how to dance to this,” says Keith, trying to escape from Lance’s grip, but the boy is clenching his hands.

“No worries, this is pure instinct, pal. Just move.”

He doesn’t really move, watching how Lance does his own show, gracile and beautiful even under the pale lights, torturing his exhausted brain. When the song shifts to one slower, he gets closer and they just lazily sway, quiet. Lance doesn't seem afraid of looking at his eyes, but Keith can't hold his gaze, dropping it to Lance's pin holding his cape. The red paladin suddenly looks at the sky and breaks the silence.

“Allura thinks the Voltron deal is her fault,” he says. Keith, surprised, looks up and cocks an eyebrow.

“What? Why?”

“She hasn’t been feeling too well. She thinks that her insecurities are making it harder, apart from the low energy problem. But, honestly, I think she’s wrong.” He looks at Keith again, with an apologetical face. “I think it’s actually… my fault.”

“Huh?” Keith stops moving, and Lance stops too but doesn’t let go of his hands.

“Red is mad at me. I bet you could feel it too. I guess he just... knows.”

“That you want to leave?” asks Keith. Lance doubts, but then nods, and Keith feels cold water running down his spine. So, Lance truly still considers it.

“I know what everyone will say. I know what you think,” says Lance, looking at Keith and guessing his thoughts, still holding his hands, “but now that Shiro has recovered, I’m pretty sure that—”

“Not this again, Lance. We already had this discussion years ago,” cuts him Keith, trying to release his hands, but Lance still holds them.

“But last time YOU left. That’s not an option now. Your place is here,” says Lance, serious.

“And your place? Isn’t it here? Wasn't this your dream?” asks Keith, furious. Lance’s face shows a mix of sadness and anger.

“It is! But it’s not my _only_ place! Nor my only dream."

This sounds familiar. Keith vaguely recalls that crazy night, peeping on Shiro. But Shiro's reasons were so different, how could they compare?

Lance is still talking, louder and desperate.

"Don’t you understand? I-I can’t guarantee that once we get home I’ll want to leave again, not while knowing that there’re far better people who could take my place. I just… I don’t know if I’m better here than there... I—”

“You,” says Keith, closing his eyes, interrupting Lance with an angry voice, “are the red paladin of Voltron. You… are a Garrison trained pilot. You helped defeat Zarkon. You helped defeat Lotor.”

Keith opens his eyes and this time, he changes the position and grips Lance’s hands instead, pressing with a bit too much strength, feeling anger and desperation cloud his mind while Lance looks at him surprised and scared.

“You have traveled to countless planets and are admired everywhere. You have a godson named Yorak, who’ll grow up hearing stories about you. You are everyone’s friend and you said... you said…”

Keith lets go of Lance’s hands, dropping his head to hide his face. His jaw feels taut and hurts a bit, making it even harder to finish talking, but anger pushes him forward.

“You said you are _my_ friend that time, in the lake. And—” he swallows, feeling stupid. “If you leave… no one will ever convince me to dance again. You can be sure _as hell_ of that.”

He doesn’t know what has gotten into him, feeling a rush of emotions leave his chest raw and unpredictable, translated into these embarrassing words. Maybe it is the drink. Maybe the craziness of this night. Raged before Lance’s silence, he looks at him defiantly, but only finds a shocked boy, looking at him with hurt eyes.

Trying hard to smile.

His voice sounds weird when he finally speaks, his eyes unmatching with the crooked smile on his lips.

“Heh, you will dance if you have to, Keith. That’s what leaders like you do. And there’s— there’s nothing you can’t do, man. Even if I’m not here, you’ll always be… the best.”

Keith stomps past Lance to go back inside, stopping by the open window. Feeling cold and raw anger, he speaks one last time.

“Well then, if you're decided, there’s nothing else to say.”

“Keith, wait, this is not what I—”

“Keep taking pictures, then, like you’ve been doing ‘til now. But I don’t wanna be in any of them. Memories are useless when you can’t do anything for the people in them. You’ll see that.”

He leaves the garden without looking back, feeling as if his body doesn’t belong to him, a knot in his throat, a sudden collapse of his mind and heart. The same flood of emotions he had when he confronted his and Krolia’s memories in the Quantum Abyss, the same frustration at the impossibility of changing the course of things.

He had been doing so well. He was happy, satisfied, relaxed. He had a family, friends and a mission, his place was there, and he had nothing else to search for. But then he made a crucial mistake.

He got too invested in that sudden problem that appeared on his way. No one asked him for help. Krolia warned him, he didn’t listen. He got involved and then let Lance enter his life, his mind… his heart. He allowed him to enter, knowing he was going to leave. Maybe, somewhere on his brain, he didn’t believe it. Maybe he was too overconfident, thinking he could change his mind. Or that Lance wouldn’t dare. For once, he was sure that he wouldn't be abandoned, because for once, he was doing something to prevent it.

He had been wrong. It wasn't enough.

And now, he is bound to be heartbroken before even realizing he is in—

Someone collides with him. He’s crossing the long hall, people starting to scatter here and there, no one really paying him any attention, but the man who crashed against him faces him, looking flustered and terrified.

“Oh, So-sorry, Keith,” says Matt Holt, running away from the hall. Keith watches him pass the door, confused. Instinctively, he looks around and finds Shiro in a corner. His numb brain makes him direct his steps right to him without even thinking.

Shiro is crestfallen, but when he feels Keith approaching, he raises his eyes. Whatever face Keith is making, it scares Shiro enough to stand up and grab him by the shoulders.

“What happened?”

“I fucked up,” mumbles Keith, feeling all rage and anger leaving his body like a tide and instead, filling him back with pure sadness and anguish. The worst feeling ever, an echo of his past self he thought he had already buried.

Shiro’s new arm surrounds him and takes him out of the hall. As they walk, Shiro sighs.

“I know it’s no comfort at all, but… I think I fucked up too.”

Keith looks at him, unable to make any face, too devastated. He only manages to say:

“Hah. Isn't this nostalgic...?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dat feel when you think you've got the upper hand over your depressed pal and end up whipped. Nothing like distance and boredom to realize your feelings! So, this chapter, the reason to stay is... you make me do things I think I'm incapable of! Also, you're hot! (Get a clue, Lance...)
> 
> This chapter was inspired by a lot of things. Kara-tur is the last D&D campaign I played, I've been obsessed with the concept of capes for a long time and finally I could make my son Keef an official Disney prince. Well... Dreamworks prince, I guess. And the Lion drama I promised in chapter 1 is gonna get real!
> 
> I had a lot more to say, but news about season 7 have me a bit shocked and discouraged. Not about klance, though, 'cause I'm a dumb optimist, but still... in case I can't update this week, I hope we'll have a good season!  
> I'll try to pump one more chapter before friday (earth drama coming), but no promises. Thank you so much for reading, hope you liked this! All comments are cherished and saved in the deepest part of my heart <3.


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